I Would do Anything For Family
by Stwolfgang 'Peas' Ambrose
Summary: 12 years after being split by the call of duty, a Peashooter and Fire Flower finally reunite. But is their reunion the beginning of a new adventure? (DISCLAIMER) I do not own PVZ, I own the plot. (This follows the events of my last story so do check them out.)
1. Chapter 1: A shocking surprise

**A/N: Recently I have passed my second year on this site so I would like to thank those who read my stories despite this account being practically dead. School has been a serious inhibitor to my creativity and free time to write, draw and undertake personal fulfillment.**

 **I am also obligied to thank ThePeaWithGoggles, since she has been with me from the start, literally. If it wasn't for her, my stories wouldn't have gone anywhere and you wouldn't be reading this. And while she has suffered a similar fate as myself, I still recommend reading all of her stories, they are some of the best.**

 **Further shoutouts go to TastyBlueCrayon, thanks for supporting me when I needed it. Further more,** **GamerGirlandCo, yuancorpuz, chumpatrol1, FlimsyCone, Dorylus, Kitty1353, Alex-olo-gy, MiracleBreaker and TimeMan63, without your stories, I probably would have gone insane by now and the older authors (Those who probably don't write anymore), your stories pretty much inspired me so yeah.**

 **To the newer authors writing the fourth generation of stories, good luck and keep going.**

* * *

In a large house in northern suburbia, a Peashooter named Pete and a Fire Flower named Alison, who wore a pair of crooked, silver Aviator glasses, looked at each other with looks of shock and embarrassment. The two plants hadn't seen each other for 12 years and when they finally met, Alison had some shocking news for Pete. The Peashooter named Pete turned his attention to a small Fire Peashooter who stood awkwardly in the doorframe that divided the lounge and the hallway and said with amazement in his voice.

"I'm a father. So you're my son?" The Fire Pea nodded hesitantly and said.  
"I-I guess so. M-my name is Desmond." Alison giggled, the flame on the head of her son started to change from a light orange to a dark red. Pete smiled and said to himself.  
"Hmm, Desmond Lathyrus...Desmond Helianthus, either name works." The Peashooter stopped talking to himself and asked Alison. "So, I guess he took your family name?"  
Alison giggled and said.  
"No actually, he asked what his fathers family name was. I told him it was Lathyrus and he seemed to prefer it over Helianthus. I guess it is easier to spell at school." Pete gave Alison a questioning look and asked.  
"School?" Alison giggled again as Desmond said.  
"Well school is a place that all young plants go to now. It's where we find and train for a peacetime job." Pete had a look of absolute shock on his face before asking.  
"So they don't teach you the basics of fighting?" Desmond shook his head and said.  
"No, unless we have certain...qualities, we aren't trained to fight. I can't even hyper like some of the other peashooters." Pete's expression changed from shock to anger. Alison gave Pete a worried look before the mad Peashooter said.  
"That's ridiculous! Look, now that i'm here, I am going to teach the basics of survival." Desmond looked jubilant as a weird sensation over came the small Fire Peashooter. Before anyone knew what was happening, Desmond was hypering all over the place.

When Desmond finally calmed down, Pete went over to the young fire pea and said.  
"Well done! I didn't even tell you anything and you just hypered all over this room. Granted your mother will kill us for making such a large mess." Looking around,  
Desmond realized the mess he had made and said.  
"I'm so sorry mum. I-I promise to clean it up." Alison giggled and said.  
"It's fine. I've never seen you so happy before." Desmond looked up and smiled, it really was the best he had felt in a long time.

* * *

After Alison cleaned up the mess in the lounge that her son, Desmond, had left, Pete asked her.  
"Why did you look so shocked to see me? I mean your eyes were red so I guess you were crying?" Alison looked away from the peashooter and said.  
"Not long before you arrived, I made a phone call in an attempt to contact you." Alison began to tear up as she said. "They told me that there were only two plants with your name and apparently both of them were killed in action." By this time Alison was crying again. Pete went over to her and said.  
"You know they could never kill me." Pete's tone changed from a comforting one to a questioning one when he said. "Did you say two, were KIA?" Alison looked at the befuddled peashooter next to her, nodded and said.  
"Yes, why do you ask?" Pete recoiled from her in shock and began muttering.  
"No, nononononono. It can't be." Alison looked at the shocked peashooter and asked.  
"What can't be?" Pete had tears in his eyes when he looked at Alison and said.  
"If what you said is true. Then I have no family left alive." This time Alison recoiled in shock and asked.  
"You can't mean...no. What happened." Pete was on the verge of crying when he said.  
"I made a ridiculous deal with my brother. He suggested I fake my death to make me invisible to L.E.A.F but he would take my job as leader of Sierra under my name. That way I was dead to L.E.A.F while alive to the remaining plants in my team. He had a pair of dog tags with my name on them. That must mean..." Pete couldn't carry on but Alison knew what the crying peashooter next to her was trying to say, his brother was dead. Alison comforted the crying peashooter while trying to hold back her own tears, the memory she was thinking of could wait.

* * *

While he knew that his mum and dad were probably discussing important events of the last 12 years in the lounge, Desmond couldn't help but wonder, how was he going to explain to his dad of his special skill. When plants started to find out about it at school, they started to pick on him more then they already did, especially the other peashooters who had beaten the grass out of him on multiple occasions. Another thing Desmond couldn't help but wonder was what his dad was going to teach him about fighting. He wanted to know badly because, until his dad taught him how to defend himself, he would keep coming home with a fresh batch of bruises.

* * *

When Pete started to feel better, Alison said to the sad Peashooter next to her.  
"You know, you still have me and your son, we are family." The sad peashooter looked at her and smiled weakly. They ended up saying.  
"Yes, I guess you're right. I will have to visit L.E.A.F at some point." Alison gave Pete a look of confusion and said.  
"I wonder how they're gonna react seeing you aren't dead." Pete laughed at the thought of the reactions of the plants at L.E.A.F. Before the two plants could continue their conversation, Desmond walked in and said.  
"Uh...Dad, I have something to show you."


	2. Chapter 2: An old friend

Pete and Alison looked at their son who once again stood in the doorway awkwardly. Desmond looked down and took a deep breath. Before Pete could ask what was about to happen, Desmond's right pod opened and a short vine covered in sharp thorns snacked its way out of the now empty pod. Alison and Desmond looked at Pete with uneasy looks while Pete had a look of astonishment and said.  
"How? I am amazed and surprised you haven't been selected to join L.E.A.F." Alison sighed in relief while Desmond had a look of shock and said.  
"You don't think I'm a freak? I-I mean, when other plants found out, especially the other peashooters, they started to pick on me more." It was Pete's turn to give his son a look of shock. Alison gave her son a look of anger and said.  
"Why didn't you tell me? I would have pulled you out of school as soon as I could. I can't believe I fell for the playground injury routine." While Alison was mad at her son, Pete was mad at the plants that had been picking on his son. Pete got up, went over to his son and said.  
"Your training starts after dinner. You need to learn how to protect yourself." While Alison diverted her anger towards Pete, Desmond's mood went from anguish to jubilation at hearing the words his father just said.

Half an hour later, Pete, Alison and Desmond finished having dinner and doing the dishes. Against Alison's wishes, Pete and Desmond went into the backyard to begin Desmond's self-defence training. Just before they started, someone knocked on the front door so Alison went and answered it. When she opened the door she was greeted by an overly happy Plasma Peashooter named Wulf and a just as happy Alien Flower named Vivian. Wulf asked Alison.  
"Hey Alison, we were wondering if we could come in?" Alison loosened up and said.  
"Sure, if you are wondering where Pete is, cause I know that's why you're here, he's in the backyard with Desmond." Wulf and Vivian nodded so Alison led them to the backyard were Pete was getting Desmond to try and punch him.

Desmond's mood was quickly changing from happiness to anger as every punch he threw at his father was dodged. When Pete dodged another attempt by his son, Desmond felt something inside him snap. Without knowing what he was doing, he opened his right pod and began swinging the thorn covered vine that now protruded from it at his father. Pete was caught off-guard and took a few hits before he regained his composure and began dodging them again. When Desmond finally regained control, he felt immediate regret at seeing what he did. His father was bleeding from three cuts that Desmond, himself had clearly caused so he began apologizing to his father.  
"I-I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to do that." Pete laughed at his son and said.  
"It's fine. I was caught off-guard by that little move you pulled off so it's my fault for not preparing for it." Before the two called continue their conversation, a three plants near the back door applauded the little fight. Pete hypered over to them and said with massive astonishment in his voice.  
"Wulf, Vivian! You're alive!" The Plasma Pea and Alien Flower nodded at Pete who was nearly jumping in joy. Wulf was first to reply.  
"I can't believe you're alive. After I saw you and Alison this afternoon, I contacted a few friends, they should be here in a few days." Pete contiued to grin stupidly while Alison talked with Desmond.  
"That was reckless and careless and do you have anything to say?" Desmond looked down, he hated it when his mum was mad at him. Before Desmond could reply, Pete interrupted them and said.  
"Alison, I will be fine. Be proud in our son, he did something that very few plants have been able to do to me." Alison said to Pete jokingly.  
"You know, I remember a certain somebody lacked self-esteem back when I first met them." Pete, Wulf and Vivian laughed at the sly remark at Pete's lack of self-esteem.

Alison, Vivian and Desmond spent the next hour watching Pete and Wulf fight to show Desmond what he should do and avoid doing in a fight. Wulf was a good fighter, but years off the battlefield had limited his abilities while Pete had been fighting for nearly the entirety of the past 22 years. When Alison told Desmond to go to bed,  
the two Peashooters stopped fighting since they were both beginning to feel tired and there was no point. Vivian and Alison looked at their respective Peashooters and tsked, they were both covered in bruises and a couple of cuts that were bleeding lightly. Pete and Wulf laughed at both Alison and Vivian's expressions of disappointment before they all wished each other a goodnight.

When Wulf and Vivian went home, Alison and Pete headed for bed. Alison decided it would be fine if the two of them shared a bed considering the guest rooms were bare and cold. When they both hopped in, Pete began hugging Alison and asked.  
"It feels good to be with you again, twelve years apart and twelve years that our son hasn't had a proper father figure." Alison giggled as she allowed the Peashooter to hug her. When she stopped giggling she said.  
"It feels good to have you back to. I just hope in those twelve years you learnt a bit about self-preservation and self-esteem." Pete laughed this time before saying.  
"Yeah, I haven't learnt anything about those two things" Alison tsked and gave up. The two of them lay in bed and just enjoyed the presence and contact of the other.

Desmond lay in bed and considered what he would do to the group of Peashooters that will probably make fun of him tomorrow at school. He knew that if he tried to hyper away he wouldn't have a chance of getting away, the other peashooters would catch him easily. On the other hand, if he tried to stand his ground, they would have an even bigger reason to pummel him into the ground. Desmond tried to put aside, perhaps if he could meet up with his dad it would put the group off from beating him up. He tried to keep thinking of that thought as he drifted off to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3: A needed class

Desmond awoke early the next morning to the sound of an argument coming from the kitchen. The young fire pea got up and investigated the argument. He walked into the kitchen to find his mum holding a knife to his dad's throat as she yelled at him.  
"YOU CAN'T GO! YOU NEED TO GO WITH YOUR SON INSTEAD!" Pete reacted nearly as fiercely as Alison.  
"IF I DON'T GO, NEWS OF A GHOST ARE GOING TO START POPPING UP!" Alison started to apply more pressure on the knife and made a small incision in Pete's throat. When Desmond saw the blood trickling down his dad's stem, he squeaked in a terrified voice.  
"M-mum, what are y-you d-doing to d-dad." Alison looked at her son then Pete. When she realized what she had done, she dropped the knife in shock and said.  
"Oh my Dave, what have I done? Pete, I am so sorry, I-I didn't mean to." Pete coughed up a little blood and said.  
"It's fine, I was being an idiot like normal." Alison nearly threw the knife at Pete when she said.  
"You aren't an idiot! Stop saying things like that, none of that is true." Pete looked down and said sadly.  
"I guess I could meet his principal when I drop him off." Alison lifted the head of the peashooter that sat opposite her and healed the small cut in his throat. Desmond looked at his two parents with a questioningly look as they quickly kissed.

The three plants spent the next hour talking about nothing consequential over breakfast. When they all finished breakfast, Desmond and Pete went off to pack their individual packs while Alison spent the time cleaning up and getting ready to go to work. Desmond packed what he normally took to school, a few books, a few pens and a bottle of water. Pete packed what he always packed a coffee bean container, food, a bottle of water and his knife. When Desmond and Pete were ready to go, Alison hugged them and wished them both a good day.

The trip to Desmond's school usually took him half an hour but with his dad getting him to practice his hyper ability, the trip was shortened to only 10 minutes. When the older Peashooter and young Fire Pea arrived at the large concrete building, they both walked in not knowing what was going to happen. A group of six plants that consisted of a Sunflower, a Law Pea, an Ice Pea, an Agent Pea, a Commando Pea and a Peashooter, walked towards Desmond and his father. The Peashooter appeared to lead the group that stopped abruptly when they saw the older Peashooter with Desmond. Desmond growled at the group of plants and his father immediately knew that the this group had been giving his son a hard time. Pete walked towards the group with his son, which resulted in the group turning around and quickly walking in the other direction. Desmond lead Pete to the principals office were they were allowed in nearly immediately. A Toxic Peashooter sat in a chair and introduced himself.  
"My name is Colin, and you are?" Pete shook pods with Colin and said.  
"My name is Pete, I believe you know my son Desmond?" Colin recoiled from Pete in shock and muttered.  
"Pete, I know that name." Colin looked at Pete as Pete said.  
"Yes Colin, I believe we know each other." Colin looked like he had just seen a ghost. Desmond said in a shocked voice.  
"My dad, knows my principal!?" Pete laughed as Colin loosened up. Pete was first to reply to his sons question.  
"Yeah, I have had an...eventful life." It was Colin's turn to laugh and say.  
"Yes you have. How is everyone?" Pete looked down when he said.  
"I don't know how many of them are, I became a ghost for the past twelve years." Colin frowned then said.  
"You know, we are hosting a few veterans from around suburbia to try and teach some of the students about their abilities, I think you could be a helper." Pete looked up and said.  
"Alright then, I might as well do something useful while I'm here." Desmond nearly hypered all over the room, he knew with his dad there, there was a good chance of him getting into the class.

An hour later Pete was sitting in a large hall with Colin. Over the next ten minutes, plants of varying species walked in. Two plants stood out to Pete though, a Jade Cactus named Manur, and a Commando Peashooter named Peter. A few seconds later a bell rang and the hall was soon filling with students. It took just over two minutes for the students that were selected to take the class to file into the large hall. When the all of the students were in the hall, Colin stood up and addressed the students.  
"Welcome to this extra-curricular class. All of you have been given the option of taking these classes because of your qualities, personalities and heritage." Colin asked the helpers, who were Pete, Peter, Manur, an Armour Chomper, a Toxic Chomper and a Shadow Flower, to stand up and introduce themselves. Pete was last to introduce himself, but when he did, Manur and Peter freaked out. Manur nearly shot one of the students as he exclaimed.  
"You're supposed to be dead!?" Pete laughed and said.  
"I think you'll find I'm notoriously hard to kill." Peter was more controlled but it was obvious he to was freaking out a little. It took a over a minute for the Jade Cactus to stop walking around the stage muttering to himself and occasionally say that Pete was supposed to be dead. During that entire time most of the students laughed and giggled at the panicking Jade Cactus while a few muttered to each other.

When Colin regained control of the students, he divided them into groups based on their species. The sunflowers would be taught by the Sunflower named Elen, while the Chompers would be taught by the Armour Chomper and Toxic Chomper. The Cacti would be taught by Manur while the peashooters would be taught by Pete and Peter. Pete would be teaching his son, Desmond, but he would also be teaching the Peashooters in the group that antagonized Desmond. Pete decided to lead the small group over to a part of the hall that no other groups were using and asked.  
"Alright, I want you all to demonstrate an ability that you can do." Unsurprisingly all but the Law Pea could hyper. All the peashooters in the group that clearly disliked Desmond were shocked when they learnt that the Fire Pea could actually hyper. Determined to try and put the Fire Pea down, they all tried to do a different ability that they knew peashooters could do, but hadn't done themselves. All but Desmond were disappointed in the end. A few of them tried to root themselves and go gatling while another group tried to create chili bean bombs. Desmond opened his pod and showed off his special ability that clearly angered the other peashooters. The Peashooter that clearly led the group of plants that loved to antagonize Desmond said.  
"That isn't really an ability, that's just weird." Desmond looked down before swinging the short, thorn covered vine at the Peashooter. Caught off guard, the Peashooter ended up with a long cut along the side of their face. Before anyone really knew what was happening, Pete was having to drag Desmond off the shocked looking Peashooter.


	4. Chapter 4: Uncalled for revenge

Desmond glared at the peashooter that lay on their back in complete shock, blood running down their face. Desmond smirked at them as thier friends picked them up.  
When Desmond looked at his father, he went from happy to sad, his father looked disappointed at him. The peashooter nearly yelled at Desmond.  
"What the hell Desmond, you're going to regret this." Before anyone else could exchange words, the bell went and the students were dismissed to recess. Desmond hypered after his father who was walking out of the hall and said.  
"Look dad, I didn't mean to, I just...lost control." Pete shrugged off his son and said.  
"I will see you at home." Pete continued to walk and ignore Desmond's pleas for him to stop.

When the final bell rang, the students headed home. Desmond walked slowly through a park near the school, he didn't really want to go home. Desmond was snapped out of his thoughts when a stone bounced off the back of his head. Rubbing the back of his head where the stone made contact, he turned around to be confronted by a group of plants he definitely didn't want to see. The peashooter that lead the group said.  
"So, no one here to protect you now." The peashooter pointed to the cut on his face and continued. "You will pay for this Fire Pea." Desmond didn't feel like fighting so he hypered in the other direction. Despite his best attempt, he couldn't out run the plants pursuing him so he stopped abruptly and took a battle stance his father taught him the night before. When the plants caught up, they stopped and laughed at Desmond who simply shot at them. Despite catching them off guard, Desmond managed to miss the 2 shots he fired at them. Unimpressed the Peashooter tackled Desmond and began beating him with a stick they had picked up. Unwilling to let the plant that had bullied him his whole school life dominate him any longer, Desmond began to fight back. Desmond managed to quickly push off the peashooter, but was taken down again, this time by a commando peashooter. Soon all but the sunflower in the group were punching Desmond or beating him with sticks.

After a few minutes the sunflower screamed at the peashooters attacking desmond.  
"STOP! YOU'VE HAD YOUR 'FUN'!" The sunflower began pushing the plants away from Desmond and continued. "LOOK AT HIM, I'M SURPRISED HE ISN'T DEAD!" The fire on the head of the Fire Pea was dangerously small and he was breathing slowly and heavily. The sunflower pulled a small phone out of her pack and dialed her mother. It only took a minute for her mother to arrive. When the older sunflower arrived, she gasped and picked up the downed Fire Pea. The sunflower asked.  
"Ali, who is this and what happened?" The younger sunflower named Ali said.  
"His name is uhh, Desmond...Lathyrus and uhh..." When Ali didn't continue, her mother said.  
"Ali, what happened. I need to know." Ali looked down and said.  
"M-My friends beat him up..." The older sunflower immediately said.  
"You are NOT to hang out with them again. No sane plant should be able to do this." Ali didn't argue, the more she thought about it, the more disgusted she felt. She told her mum.  
"You're right. I will apologize to them when they wake up." Ali's mum smiled and said.  
"That's very noble of you. Let me just call his mother and we can get him home." Ali handed her mum the small phone she had and her mum dialled Desmond's mum.

It took the two sunflowers 30 minutes to find Desmond's home. Outside the house stood Alison and Pete, Alison with a look of worry and Pete with a look of self-loathing. When the two plants noticed their son being carried by the older sunflower, they ran up to her and asked in unison.  
"What happened?" The older sunflower handed Pete his son while she said.  
"My name is Sonatra, I am one of your son's teachers." She shook her hand equivalent with Alison's and continued. "My daughter can explain what happened." Ali blushed,  
looked down and said.  
"I was with my...'friends', walking through the park and when they saw Desmond, they decided it would be fine to get some revenge." Ali sounded disgusted when she said revenge. She continued. "So they beat Desmond up. I can't believe I let them do it for so long, I wished I had intervened earlier." Sonatra asked.  
"Can we please come in? I think I need to discuss a few things with you both." Alison and Pete nodded and led them into the large home the two shared.

Pete lay his son down on one of the couches while Alison asked if the two sunflowers would like a drink. When the four plants were seated and refreshed, Alison asked.  
"Thank you so much. Even if you didn't intervene straight away, you did the right thing in the end." Ali smiled and blushed at the compliment. Sonatra said in a compassionate voice.  
"I believe it would be best for your son to...avoid coming to school, for a few days." Alison nodded and Pete asked an off topic question.  
"Sonatra...don't I know you?" Sonatra sighed and said.  
"Yes, yes you do. You probably can't really remember me because Zomboss tried a new weapon against us one night. It was a memory erasing gas that nearly completely removed me from everyone in the vicinities memory, including Peter's. He took me because he knew that your memories of me would slowly be recovered the longer you were near me." Sonatra started crying but Alison went over to her and said.  
"Sonatra. You're the sunflower that helped me save Pete the day we first met." Sonatra smiled and nodded. Before they could continue to exchange memories, Desmond coughed up a little blood and opened his eyes. Alison ran over to her son and said.  
"Desmond, are you alright?" Desmond smiled and said weakly.  
"M-Mum? Yeah, I think I'm fine." Ali ran over and said quickly.  
"Desmond, I am so sorry for what happened. I should have helped faster..." Before she could continue, Desmond interrupted her and said.  
"Wh-What? What happened?" Both Alison and Ali looked at each other uneasily. Sonatra walked over and said.  
"Desmond. You were in a fight. You're going to be fine and I'm going to explain to the principal you won't be at school for a few days." Desmond looked at Sonatra and said.  
"Thanks Miss Sonatra. How did we get to my house?" Ali giggled while Pete came over and said.  
"Look, Desmond. I am sorry for overreacting and letting you walk home alone knowing that you had some dangerous enemies after you. I should have been a better father." Alison tsked and said.  
"Pete, you're new to this, don't beat yourself up over it. It was an honest mistake." Pete sighed, despite her protest, he still felt like it was his fault.

Sonatra and Ali spent another ten minutes there before wishing Alison, Pete and Desmond a good afternoon and heading home. The family of three went on to discuss what was going to happen. All of them agreed that Desmond would stay at home for three days and that Pete would escort Desmond to and from school. By the time the plants went to bed, it was nearly midnight.


	5. Chapter 5: Document or Plan?

Three days after the incident in the park, Pete hypered alongside his son towards the large concrete building that was Desmond's school. When the two of them arrived,  
they were approached by Ali and a Hot Rod Chomper and Ali said in an awkward tone.  
"Uh...hey Desmond. I'm so sorry about what happened and I thought about how I could make it up to you." Desmond looked at the sunflower and giggled, she was blushing.  
Ali continued. "So I was wondering if I could hang out with you...I-if you don't mind." This time both Desmond and the Hot Rod Chomper laughed at Ali who was blushing.  
The Hot Rod Chomper stepped towards Desmond and said.  
"You went real fast back at the park, I'm surprised they caught up to you." Desmond looked down and said.  
"I let them catch up, I thought I couldn't out run them." The Chomper laughed and said.  
"I think you might have been able to even out run me. The names Benard by the way." Desmond went to shake his pod with the Hot Rod Chompers equivalent, only to realize the Chomper didn't have one. Before the plants could converse for longer, the bell went so Pete and Desmond wished each other a good day and went their separate ways.

Alison rushed down a long, clean hallway, hastily putting on her white coat as she headed towards one of the emergency rooms in the hospital. When she arrived in the room, there was a collective sigh of relief, something Alison still wasn't used to after 6 years as head doctor of the emergency wing. As soon as she got in she asked.  
"What's the situation?" A nervous looking Power Flower said.  
"Uh, a Chomper found this Peashooter knocked out near Zomboss' old estate." The Power Flower grabbed some crossbow bolts and showed them to Alison. "These were found impaled in him." Alison looked at the bolts, they didn't seem to be of zombie make. Putting it aside she asked.  
"Who is he?" The Power Flower said awkwardly.  
"Uh...the only way to identify him was this." The Power Flower handed Alison a torn up piece of paper. When Alison saw the names on the paper, she nearly fainted in shock. The document was from Jack Lathyrus, Pete's brother, but who it was to, was the most shocking part.

The final bell for the day rang and students began flooding the hallways of the school. Desmond stayed behind in class, he didn't want to be in the presence of any bullies outside the view of a teacher. Lucky for him he had Miss Sonatra last so she didn't mind the young Fire Pea staying behind in her class. Around 5 minutes after the bell went, Ali and Benard walked into the room. Sonatra smiled at her daughter, she was proud her daughter decided to try and make it up to Desmond. Ali said.  
"So, Desmond, do you want to hang out with us...I mean, if it's fine with you." Desmond laughed at the sunflower and said.  
"Sure. Oh wait, my dad's supposed to pick me up after school." Sonatra giggled at the down looking Fire Pea and said.  
"It's fine. I explained to your father around lunch time that he didn't need to pick you up." Desmond felt happy again and hypered out into the hallway. Bernard laughed while Ali jumped up on to him and when she did, Bernard sprinted after Desmond. When the strange group of three were outside, they were confronted by a group of five plants. The peashooter called out to Ali.  
"HEY, ALI! I didn't know you were rocking with the circus." The group laughed at the joke, but the were quickly shut up when Desmond yelled back.  
"LEAVE HER ALONE! SHE ISN'T PART OF THIS! IT'S STILL ONLY BETWEEN US!" The peashooter smiled cynically and said.  
"Fine then, fight me here and now and lets settle this." Desmond shook his head and said.  
"I don't want to fight you, I just want you to leave me and my friends alone." The peashooter spat at Desmond and said.  
"Whats the matter douchebag? Oh yeah, you're a coward like your bastard father!" Ali grabbed Desmond and whispered to him.  
"Desmond, ignore him. Let's go." Ali jumped up on Benard who was growling at the Peashooter while Desmond turned around and began walking away.

The group of three were on edge until they were a long distance from the school. By this time they were in the park and just wandering around talking about nothing of consequence when a worried Garlic Drone approached them and said.  
"Come, quick, I need your help." Benard sprinted while Desmond hypered after the garlic drone as they led the group to a cut off part of the park. In the middle of a large clearing lay an injured Cactus. Ali called out to the Garlic Drone and said.  
"HEY! What happened?" The Garlic Drone sounded angry when she said.  
"We were trying out a new tactic and I made a wrong move and she fell and I don't know how she is." Ali jumped off Benard and ran towards the Cactus.

Pete sat at home and considered what was happening to the two family members he had left when the phone rang. He hesitated before he picked up and said.  
"Hello, if you need Alison she isn't here at the moment." A very familiar voice spoke back, but they sounded panicked.  
"Pete, I need you to come down to the hospital with Desmond immediately." Pete's expression changed to worry when he said.  
"Uh...Desmond isn't with me, he's with some friends at the..." He couldn't continue, the plant on the end of the line screamed back.  
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE ISN'T WITH YOU! FINE, JUST, COME DOWN TO THE HOSPITAL NOW!" The phone clicked and went silent. Pete put the phone down and went to the hospital.


	6. Chapter 6: The end of a Calamity

Pete stumbled through the front doors of the hospital, he had pushed himself to hyper the distance. While Alison would bus to the hospital in 10 minutes, Pete hypered it in 15 minutes and he was exhausted. A worried looking Power Flower ran up to him and asked.  
"Are you Pete?" The exhausted Peashooter nodded, he was too tired to talk. The Power Flower helped him walk to the room Alison was in. When they arrived, Alison ran up and said.  
"Pete, I have something to show you." Alison led Pete to a bed with an injured Peashooter laying in it. The Peashooter sat up and Pete stepped back in shock, it was his brother, Jack. Pete stammered at the Peashooter.  
"I-I thought y-you were dead!" Jack looked more shocked and said.  
"You're supposed to be dead!" Pete was even more shocked at that news and said.  
"Wait what? I'm supposed to be dead?" Alison walked over to Pete and gave him a piece of damaged paper, what he saw chilled him to the core. On the document was a list of names, most of the names were crossed out. But the most shocking part was that his own name was crossed out and the document was addressed to Zomboss. Pete looked up from the paper and glared at Jack who simply said with a voice of sorrow.  
"P-Pete, I'm so sorry. I had to do it, if I didn't they would have killed me." Pete gave his brother a look of absolute loathing and said menacingly.  
"You should have done what I, our parents in fact any true plant would have done and that would have been to take it and die protecting others. You know what?" Pete was starting to tear up as he said. "I have no brother anymore." Pete turned around and dropped the note on the floor. Jack got up, a distraught look on his face as he ran after Pete and called out.  
"Look Pete, I can ex..." He didn't get to finish, Pete had turned around and punched him in the face. Jack lay on the ground in shock as the two of them glared at each other. Jack eventually broke the awkward silence and said.  
"Fine then, if I'm not your brother, I have no regrets for what I'm going to do." With that, Jack got up and hypered out of the building, the document in his pod.

When Ali had finished healing the cactus, she said.  
"I guess you and your Garlic Drone friend weren't on point today." Ali, Desmond and Benard laughed at Ali's pun while the Cactus looked unamused. The group of three wished the cactus and garlic drone good luck before walking back onto the main path, where they walked into a group of plants they didn't want to see. A Law Pea said.  
"Well well well, the carny just rolled up." Benard growled at them while Ali frowned and said.  
"Beats being part of the no lifes." The group looked taken aback and a commando peashooter said.  
"Psh, piss off, no one asked for your opinion miss sunshine and rainbows. What do you see in these freaks anyway?" Benard growled louder and the group began to step back. The Peashooter who led the group said.  
"Don't growl at me all bark no bite! Besides, hot head over there is late for his daily beating." Desmond also growled and said.  
"I think you're late for yours douche." The Peashooter said menacingly back.  
"Try it." Desmond lunged at the peashooter but Ali tackled Desmond to the ground and said.  
"ENOUGH! You two need to stop fighting!" The Peashooter walked over to them and said.  
"Move Ali, or I will hit you!" Ali looked taken aback but held her ground and said.  
"You wouldn't hit a girl Calamity." The Peashooter named Calamity looked shocked at hearing his name and slapped Ali, which caused Benard to charge at them. The group of peashooters hypered into an abandoned warehouse so Ali, Desmond and Benard followed them in.

Desmond, Ali and Benard followed a group of peashooters into an abandoned warehouse, the group had been annoying the three plants for far too long. The group entered the warehouse cautiously, which was good because an extremely old zombie turret fired at them. They simply ran past it unscathed and hunted down the group of peashooters. When they did find the group, they seemed determined not to seem weak against the plants they had done wrong on more than one occasion. Desmond stepped forward and yelled.  
"CALAMITY! YOU ARE THE COWARD! YOU OUTNUMBER US SO STAND AND FIGHT!" The response they got shocked every plant in the room. Calamity sat hunched over and sobbing.  
"I-I'm sorry I'm not as l-lucky as you. Your parents don't take their fr-frustrations out on you. Has one of your parents hit you? Has one of them beat you until they fall over exhausted?" Desmond stepped back in shock and said.  
"N-No, I-I never knew." Calamity got up and tackled Desmond. As he punched the pinned Fire Pea he yelled.  
"OF COURSE YOU DIDN'T! THIS IS ALL I HAVE TO LOOK FORWARD TO WHEN I GO HOME! MY MOTHER DOESN'T LOVE ME WHILE MY DRUNKEN WRECK OF A FATHER BEATS ME FOR HIS MISTAKES!"  
Desmond pushed the wreck of a Peashooter off of himself and said.  
"Look Calamity. I don't want to fight you now. If I knew all of this, I would have tried to help you..." The Fire Pea couldn't continue, the Peashooter slugged him across the head with a metal pole and yelled.  
"YOU THINK I NEED HELP?! I DON'T NEED ANYONE." Desmond rolled out of the way of another attack, blood was running from a cut on his bulb where the metal pole had made contact. Desmond gave up reasoning and got ready to fight. Expecting an attack against himself, Desmond, Benard and Ali didn't expect Calamity to throw the pole he was holding at Ali. The pole hit Ali who yelped in pain. Benard was clearly mad, in fact beyond mad, he charged his fastest at the peashooters and split their group up. Desmond chased Calamity up to a catwalk above the main room while Benard chased the other peashooters.

Calamity turned around to face the pursuing fire pea and fired a few peas at them. All three peas missed their marks and Desmond tackled Calamity. The temperature in the room seemed to rise as the flame on Desmond's head changed from their customary orange to a dark blue then to a dark purple, Desmond had lost control of himself.  
Desmond began beating the pinned peashooter with a metal pole left lying near them. Eventually Calamity managed to push the enraged Fire Pea off him and say through the tears.  
"P-Please, n-no more..." He couldn't continue, something had impaled the peashooter through the chest. Looking down, he saw that Desmond had impaled the Peashooter with the short, thorn covered vine that now protruded from his right pod. Desmond stared into the eyes of the terrified peashooter in front of him as he felt their heart slowly beating away in his clutches. From below, Benard yelled up at them.  
"DO IT DESMOND! THE BASTARD DESERVES IT!" Quickly after Ali yelled out.  
"DON'T DESMOND! THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU'RE DOING!" It was no use, Desmond couldn't control what he was doing. The peashooter begged at Desmond.  
"P-Please, Desmond, th-think about it. I never truly men..." The Peashooter never got to finish their sentence, Desmond had ripped out their heart and crushed it in front of them. The Peashooter looked at Desmond in shock for a few seconds before collapsing onto the catwalk, never to rise again.

Desmond looked down at Calamity's corpse and smiled deviously, he felt proud of what he had done. Benard smiled in glee as the other Peashooters hypered out of the building in terror but Ali had a look of absolute shock and terror on her face, she didn't think Desmond could have done it. With the flames on his head changing back to its normal dark orange colour, Desmond began to regain control. When he looked down at the corpse that lay at his roots, he couldn't help but feel disgusted, he had gone too far. He jumped off the catwalk, carrying Calamity's corpse with him, and approached Ali, who turned and ran from Desmond. Desmond looked at Benard who to was coming back under control of his body, and Benard looked shocked as well and said.  
"I could eat the corpse to..." Desmond cut him off and said.  
"NO! That's wrong, we have to tell the truth, plants and people will know what I've done anyway, we should at least bury him...even if he was a douche." Benard shook his giant head but Desmond was determined to try and right the massive wrong he had just committed.


	7. Chapter 7: A weighty duty

Desmond and Benard walked out of the abandoned warehouse and towards a well known graveyard that everyone was told to avoid. Desmond carried Calamity's corpse despite the strange looks he was getting from the other plants, and occasional human. It took the duo an hour to get to the rusted gates that divided the small number of undead in the graveyard and the rest of suburbia. Because the gates were locked, Benard burrowed beneath the gates while Desmond hypered over them with Calamity's corpse. Using his free pod, Desmond grabbed an old shovel that had been left next to the gate and set off to find a suitable place to bury the dead Peashooter he carried. It took twenty minutes to find a place that wasn't crawling with undead. When Desmond started digging, Benard started to walk away from Desmond and said.  
"I'm gonna go and get something to eat, I'll be back." Benard burrowed down into the ground beneath him and left Desmond to bury the corpse that he had created.

It took Desmond an hour to finish digging the hole that he would bury Calamity in and refill it. When he finished, he fell on his back and stared at the evening sky,  
his mum was probably worried sick. He lay there for a few minutes and contemplated how quickly someone could take his life. He only got up in the end because the moans of the undead were drifting closer and closer to him. Desmond grabbed the shovel and headed towards the gate that he had entered the graveyard through. As he got close to the gate, he saw there was no chance of getting through, the browncoats were at the gate and trying to push it down. Desmond ducked behind a bush and watched the browncoats for over an hour, they were still trying and he knew his mother was bound to be worried sick. Desmond knew he couldn't be there any longer so prepared to hyper through the horde that had gathered near the gate, when a loud explosion gave him a fright. Some of the browncoats near the back of the horde noticed the yelp of surprise from a nearby bush and approached it. Desmond tried to stay hidden in the bush, but as the browncoats got closer, the flame on his head began to burn brighter as he felt more frightened, this ended up with the bush catching fire. Desmond cursed as he jumped out of the bush to confront the browncoats, who began to lurch towards him. He fired 5 flaming peas at the approaching browncoats, only one hit in the end but it did leave Desmond to deal with only nine browncoats. Looking around for a weapon before he became a zombies salad, Desmond grabbed the shovel and began swinging it at the zombies. After half a minute, one of the browncoats grabbed the shovel and took it from the Fire Pea that had just been using it. They looked at it before swinging it at Desmond, who dodged the shovel, only to be grabbed by a different browncoat who tried to rip a chunk out of Desmond's stem. Before they could make any progress, a small, green explosion, knocked the head off the browncoat who went limp.

Ali watched in fear as Desmond tried to fight off eight browncoats by himself, when Benard popped out of the ground next to her and chomped a browncoat Ali didn't see. She smiled in relief at the Hot Rod Chomper beside her and jumped up on him. Benard then charged through the horde of browncoats towards Desmond, using his head as a ram to knock over the browncoats that didn't try and run from him. When Benard and Ali got through the horde, a Peashooter carrying a Fire Flower hypered over the horde and the Fire Flower asked in a frightened voice.  
"Where's Desmond?" Ali and Benard looked towards the Fire Pea that was now dealing with 4 browncoats, blood running from multiple small, deep cuts caused by a shovel wielding browncoat. The Fire Flower growled and opened fire on the browncoats, quickly felling them as the flames that engulfed her head changed to a light blue. She yelled out at Desmond as he made his way towards the group of plants.  
"I AM GOING TO LOCK YOU IN YOUR ROOM TILL YOU WITHER AWAY MISTER! ALL THE NEWS YOUR FATHER AND I HAVE GOTTEN TODAY IS SLOWLY DESTROYING US! DO YOU HAVE ANYTHING TO SAY ABOUT THIS MESS!" Desmond's expression changed from fright, to relief and back to fright in 10 seconds flat. He looked down and said.  
"I-I didn't mean to, it was an accident..." Alison screamed at her son again.  
"ACCIDENT?! HOW DO YOU ACCIDENTALLY RIP OUT A PLANTS HEART AND CRUSH IT IN FRONT OF THEM! I-I..." Alison couldn't continue, she was in tears. Pete stopped shooting at the zombies and hugged Alison and said.  
"It's fine, I'm sure there is a perfectly good explanation." Pete looked as his son with a look that said 'don't say a thing'. The plants spent the next hour clearing out the gate and pushing back the browncoats from the gate. Desmond was approached by not only 4 of his teachers, but also the principal and he assumed Calamity's parents. A drunken Law Pea asked in a very unique accent.  
"So, what did y'all drag us down 'ere for?" Collin, the principal, looked at Desmond and said.  
"I was hoping to find out as well, I want to know if these...rumours are false or not." Before Desmond could say anything, Ali spoke.  
"Y-Yes Mr Collin, I witnessed the event." Ali looked terrified as she thought about the events that had happened earlier that day.


	8. Chapter 8: Reanimation

There was collective gasp of shock when Ali confirmed what had happened. Desmond looked at her in utter shock while Desmond's parents, especially Alison, gave him a look of disappointment. Desmond's teachers and principal went into a fevered argument over whether Desmond should be allowed at school or not. Alison grabbed Desmond and dragged him over to a nearby tree that had been dead for a very long time and said angrily.  
"Why did you do it? Why?" Alison was pleading for an answer but was disappointed when it came. Desmond looked down and said with tears coming to his eyes.  
"I-I lost control. Something...happened and one point I'm standing in front of him, next he's laying by my roots with a hole in his chest." Alison told her son.  
"Go to your father. NOW!" Desmond went to ask why, but the flames that engulfed Alison's head were turning blue. Desmond turned and ran to his father, he knew his mum was angry. When Desmond found his dad he had a frown on his face as Desmond's principal talked with him."  
"Look Pete, I'm sorry your son can't come to school anymore. He's a danger..." Pete interrupted Colin and said furiously.  
"He isn't a danger! He lost control to his instincts. I thought I taught you better Colin?" Desmond looked at the pair of Peashooters with a look of astonishment, his dad had taught his principal! Desmond couldn't help but say.  
"My dad, taught my principal?!" Both Pete and Colin looked at Desmond and Colin said.  
"Yes, but war and education are two completely different things! Pete, you're part of a dying species, soon we won't need to fight, the zombie resistance is collapsing..." Pete interrupted Colin again and said.  
"You're still with L.E.A.F, you know the importance of having fighters ready at all times..." This time Colin interrupted Pete and said.  
"Yes, but a few of us agree that...the time for fighting is over." Pete glared at Colin and said.  
"It wasn't Zomboss that made the list of plants to be eliminated...it was YOU!?" Colin smirked and said.  
"Smart boy, now I'm sorry but sometimes the student has to beat the teacher. Goodbye Pete, no one will miss you." A couple of Desmond's teachers grabbed Pete from behind and held him in place...

The scientist looked at the broken watch on his decaying wrist, he knew it was broken but he had to pass the time some way. The scientist looked out the door of the mausoleum he was using as a home and lab to see the group of plants that had disturbed his peace were arguing about something. The scientist grabbed a shovel and set off towards a grave that had recently been added to his graveyard. It took him ten minutes to find the crudely marked grave and begin digging. It took him another ten minutes to dig up a corpse he didn't expect to find. He grabbed the dead Peashooter and set off towards his lab, he had an idea that could either make or break his plans. When arrived back at his lab, he threw the dead Peashooter onto his operating table and grabbed a syringe full of an experimental substance. He inserted the needle into the Peashooter's stem and sat back to see what would happen. Nothing happened for five minutes so the scientist went into his makeshift kitchen and grabbed some leftover brain casseroll before returning to the lab, to find a sight that made him dance in joy. The Peashooter stammered in shock.  
"W-What happened? W-Where am I?" The scientist was so jubilant he yelled out in joy.  
"I DID IT! I'VE REANIMATED THE DEAD! FOR ONCE I MIGHT NOT BE SO LONELY!" The Peashooter looked down at themselves, there was a hole in his chest were his heart should have been. He looked up at the scientist and asked.  
"Wh-Who are you?" The scientist calmed down and said.  
"Edi. And I believe you are?" The Peashooter went silent for a second before he said.  
"Calamity." Edi smiled at the Peashooter and said.  
"You know, I think you could do with something to eat...I will be right back." Edi ran off and Calamity looked around the room. It was full of strange devices and tools as well as a few strange posters of human females. The scientist rushed in with a potted scaredy shroom that was hiding and said.  
"Here, try this." Edi put the scaredy shroom next to Calamity who looked at the plant and felt a strange feeling go through him. Despite feeling disgusted at himself,  
Calamity began to eat the scaredy shroom who cried in pain as they were eaten by the undead Peashooter.

It took Calamity an antagonizing 20 minutes to eat the poor scaredy shroom and when he finished, he felt both disgusted and strangely satisfied. He looked at Edi and said.  
"Why did I do that? What's happening to me." Edi thought for a second before saying.  
"Calamity, don't freak out...but you're a zombie." Calamity did exactly what the scientist told him not to do. He hypered around the room trying to tell himself it was all a bad dream. Edi shook his head and pulled out a grenade that he had stolen from an Imp near the end of the war and threw it at the undead plant. Calamity yelped in surprise as he was picked up into the air and quickly dropped on the floor. Edi held his shotgun to Calamity's head and said.  
"Calm down. I know it may be a surprise but you need to get used to it or...it's back to the grave." Calamity nodded and calmed before asking.  
"What happened?" Edi frowned and said.  
"A Fire Pea and Hot Rod Chomper broke into my graveyard, buried you then went to leave. I don't know what happened after since I set off to get your corpse. I bought you back here and back to life." Calamity nodded uneasily and said.  
"You want something, don't you?" Edi nodded and said.  
"As compensation for bringing you back to life, I want you to earn the trust of a few plants and bring them here, I have a plan." Calamity gave Edi an uneasy look before holding out his pod to shake with Edi's decaying hand and said.  
"Deal, I know just the plants." Calamity smiled deviously, he knew just how to get his revenge against the Fire Pea that killed him.

 _A/N: Shout out to ThePeawithGoggles for helping me out with a couple of the ideas in this chapter, you should go check out her stories :D  
_


	9. Chapter 9: Seeing ghosts

Desmond was grabbed by one of his cactus teachers while Pete was lifted into the air by the two chompers who held his arms in their mouths and Colin said in an almost sympathetic voice.  
"I will grant you one wish, since you are going without a fight..." As soon as Colin said those words, Pete spat at him and said.  
"I will never go without a fight. Stab me, shoot me even rip me apart! I will always keep fighting till my family are safe." Colin frowned and said.  
"This is exactly why you're species are dying out. You all share one thing in common, you don't think before you fight! You always charge into battle if someone you care about is in danger. Is it a flaw in your species personalities?" Pete glared at Colin and said in a voice full of defiance.  
"No! It's our defining trait!" Colin growled, pulled out a knife and said.  
"Fine then! If it's a fight you want! It's a fight you'll get!" With Pete immobilized, Colin lunged at him and stabbed Pete in his stem. Pete growled at the Toxic Pea that had just stabbed him and tried to kick him off. Colin frowned and stabbed Pete till he had over fourteen deep cuts in his stem, each bleeding dangerous amounts of blood. The chompers released Pete who collapsed onto the ground, breathing heavily, but far from beaten. Desmond broke free of his teacher and yelled.  
"DAAAAAAD!" The cactus grabbed Desmond again while Colin bent down next to Pete and said.  
"Give in! We might spare your family." Pete picked himself up, stood tall and said.  
"NEVER! Not as long as you're a threat to my family." Pete lunged at Colin and caught the Toxic Pea off guard. Colin was pinned by Pete and said in frustration.  
"Stubborn idiot." Colin shoved the injured Peashooter off of himself and lunged at them. Pete dodged the lunge and hypered at the Cactus that held his son. The Cactus smirked and shot Pete who shrugged off the spike that now stuck out of his stem and tackled the cactus that released his son. The cactus nearly screamed.  
"Help me Inodine!" Pete jumped off the cactus and grabbed his son and the two hypered towards the tree that Alison was hiding behind.

As they hypered towards the tree, they heard Colin say.  
"Look, I'm so sorry but...news of this can't get out so I will have to kill you both." After a drunken what, the sound of two plants being chomped echoed through the graveyard. Pete growled and turned around to face the approaching plants. When Desmond stopped, Pete yelled at him.  
"GET TO YOUR MOTHER...NOW!" Desmond gasped as Colin took advantage of Pete's momentary distraction and punched Pete in the face. Pete fell onto the ground and growled at Colin before saying.  
"I wish you had died that day...just like your brother!" Colin continuously punched Pete as he yelled.  
"TAKE THAT BACK! MY BROTHER DIED TO SAVE ME!" Pete pushed off the distraught Toxic Pea and hypered towards a hill, leading the plants away from his family. When Pete made it to the top of the hill, he turned and fired at the plants approaching him. While the chompers headed for cover, the cactus landed two spikes in Pete and nearly landed a third. Pete grunted as he pulled out the spikes and turned his attention to the enraged Toxic Pea charging at him when a sharp pain ran through the back of head.

The Peashooter turned around and faced Edi with an expression of fury on their face. Edi pulled the trigger on his shotgun and blasted the Peashooter in the face.  
Pete felt his health drain away hugely when shot by the scientist, but behind his back, spikes and Toxic Peas travelled at him, each looked on mark. Alison screamed as the multiple projectiles found their mark and Pete finally yelled in pain and collapsed, he was finally knocked out. Alison and Desmond charged up the hill and found themselves trapped between the scientist and the plants that were advancing on them. The scientist warped closer to them and was about to shoot Desmond, but the scientist fell forward, and a strange looking Peashooter stood behind them. Desmond gasped as he realized that Calamity had shot the scientist, but he also had a strange look on his face, it was almost like a zombies. Before he could help himself, Desmond yelled at Calamity.  
"YOU! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" Calamity frowned and said.  
"I just saved your life! Be a bit more grateful hot head!" Before either plant could exchange more words, Alison let out a sigh of relief and Pete sat up, blood running from multiple wounds. Alison tsked as she began healing the multiple cuts and lacerations while Calamity said to Desmond.  
"Look I'm so sorry for what I did. It was uncalled for and I shouldn't take out my anger on others." Desmond frowned and said.  
"I didn't mean to kill you...actually how are you here now?" Calamity sighed and looked at the scientist and said.  
"They bought me back to life and they tried to make me do horrible things...We need to get out of here! More elites are on there way." Desmond frowned and said.  
"Fine. But if you show the slightest sign of betraying us, I will send you back to the grave." Desmond turned to his parents and said.  
"We need to leave. There are more elites on there way." Pete and Alison looked at each other, worried looks on their faces. Pete ended up saying.  
"Alison. You take Desmond and get out of here. I will stay behind and make sure you both get out of..." Alison interrupted Pete and said.  
"NO! I'm going to stay by your side from now on. I thought I lost you once, I don't want to lose you again." Pete frowned and went to say something, but a chomper had unborrowed next to them and lunged at Desmond. Calamity gasped and hypered towards Desmond and shoved him out of the way of the lunging chomper who landed on the ground with a thud. Desmond looked at Calamity in shock while Pete and Alison grabbed the two boys and set off towards a different gate that was no longer visible.


	10. Chapter 10: Forgiveness?

It took Alison, Desmond, Calamity and Pete an hour of dodging the undead and their plant pursuers to find an escape from the graveyard. When they finally escaped, the group of four were startled by a beaten looking Hot Rod Chomper and terrified looking Sunflower as they came out of a nearby bush. Ali exclaimed.  
"DESMOND! Thank Dave you're alright. I am so sorry for ratting you out...but I couldn't lie...I-I just couldn't" Ali was crying and Alison intervened.  
"It's fine sweetie, look it's not safe for us to go home so would it be fine if we all stayed at your mother's home for a while?" Ali pulled out her phone and rang her mother, Sonatra.  
"Hey mum. Alison was wondering if she could stay at our house for a while..." The two talked for five uneasy minutes. When they finally finished, Ali said in a relieved voice.  
"She said it was fine and that she would send for Crazy Dave to pick us up in his flying RV." Alison and Pete both sighed in relief and Alison asked.  
"So, until he gets here, I would like to ask permission to heal those wounds..." Alison pointed at the Hot Rod Chomper who nodded and said.  
"It's fine. The name is Benard, by the way." Alison frowned and said.  
"I had an older brother called Benard..." Alison began muttering to herself as she healed the small wounds on Benard.

Dave arrived 10 minutes later and everyone but Pete hopped into the flying RV. Alison looked at Pete and asked.  
"What are you doing Pete?" Pete frowned at her and said in as caring a voice he could manage.  
"Alison, I love you. Never let harm come to our son." Pete closed the door on Alison, turned around and hypered back into the graveyard. Dave took off and Alison began to cry as she yelled out.  
"NO! Dave, please go back for him!" Dave looked at Alison, frowned and said.  
"This is something he has to do for himself." Dave turned around and focused on flying the RV. Alison lent against the wall and cried to herself, she was never going to let this go with Pete...if he ever came back. Desmond walked over to his mum and said caringly.  
"Please cheer up...I-I'm sure dad will be fine..." Alison screamed at her son.  
"FINE?! HE'S GOING TO GET HIMSELF KILLED! 12 YEARS APART, HE FINALLY COMES BACK! 1 WEEK TOGETHER AND HE'S ALREADY TRYING TO GET HIMSELF KILLED!" Alison went back to crying to herself while Desmond walked over to a couch and began sobbing to himself. Ali sat next to him and said.  
"Look, Desmond, it will be fine. Your mum isn't going to stay mad forever, your dad will comeback and she will calm." Desmond looked down and said with terror in his voice.  
"What if my dad doesn't come back from this?"

Pete hypered back into the graveyard and searched out the Toxic Pea that wanted him dead, he was going to settle this with words or peas. It only took Pete 10 minutes to find Colin, but who Colin was meeting with, chilled Pete to the core, his brother really did want him dead. Pete couldn't see the cactus or chompers anywhere nearby so he snuck his way towards the Toxic Pea and Peashooter. When he was close enough, Pete lunged out of a nearby bush and tackled Colin to the ground. Jack jumped back in fright while Colin yelled.  
"WHAT THE DAVE?!" Colin shut up as soon as he saw Pete on top of him, a look of pure fury in his face. Pete snarled at the Peashooter and Toxic Pea.  
"You thought I would let you terrorize my family? You're wrong Colin and you." Pete pointed at Jack and said. "I had hope you would come to your senses, but I see you haven't. Let's settle this now, the easy way, or the hard way." Jack tackled Pete off of Colin and said.  
"I will make this swift." Jack pulled out a knife and placed it on Pete's chest, right above his heart. Pete growled at Jack and shoved him off. Colin tried to subdue Pete by shooting him and potentially poisoning him, but Colin missed and was quickly brought down by Pete. Growling, Pete turned his attention to his knife wielding brother.

Calamity looked at the sad Fire Pea and couldn't help but feel happy that Desmond felt like he did whenever he was at home. But somewhere deep inside his decaying soul, something cried out to him to try and comfort the Fire Pea. Giving in, Calamity sat next to Desmond and said.  
"I know how it feels, being yelled at by the one person who's supposed to love you no matter what." Desmond looked at the undead peashooter next to him and said.  
"H-How do you deal with it?" Calamity sighed and said in a voice of self-loathing.  
"I did terrible things...I put you down and a bunch of other plants. In the end I got what I deserved." Desmond frowned and said.  
"You know, I truly am sorry for what I did. Look, I was wondering if you wanted to...start from scratch?" Calamity looked at the Fire Pea in utter shock and said.  
"Y-You want to start again? After all I put you through, you forgive me?" Desmond smiled and said.  
"Of course, it was never your fault you acted the way you did. If you had parents that cared for you, you would have been different." Calamity for the first time in a long time, felt truly happy.


	11. Chapter 11: Helianthus family pride

It took Dave 10 minutes to fly them to Sonatra's home. Sonatra came out and met the group of plants, when she saw Alison though, she ran up to the fire flower and asked.  
"Alison, what's the matter? Where's Pete?" Alison stopped crying and said angrily.  
"The damn idiot decided that we would be safer, I guess, if he took on our pursuers by himself. I hope he learns a lesson from this" Sonatra was taken aback as she assumed Alison meant she wanted Pete to be hurt. Sonatra quickly chimed in.  
"Don't wish pain on another plant, it could come back to seriously haunt you." Alison sighed and said.  
"I didn't mean it like that Sonatra. Please, can we come inside?" Sontra sighed as well and said.  
"Fine, all of you, inside now." Dave took off as Alison, Desmond, Benard, Ali, Calamity and Sonatra headed into the large house. When inside, Sonatra offered them all beverages before taking a seat beside them on her couch. She went on to say.  
"I am expecting company so don't be surprised if someone knocks on the door. If they do, don't answer it, just in case." The other plants in the room nodded while Sonatra went off to set up the guest bedrooms.

An hour after arriving, someone knocked on the door. Sonatra got up and greeted the two sunflowers who stood in the doorway.  
"Mr and Mrs Helianthus. Nice of you both to arrive, please come in." When Alison heard the name Helianthus coming from the front door, she got up and went to investigate. What she saw shocked her to the core. The two sunflowers in the doorway were also shocked to the core. Eventually the older, male sunflower spluttered.  
"You...we left you to die! How did you survive out there?" Alison was on the verge of tears when she said.  
"YOU UNGRATEFUL, GOOD FOR NOTHING PARENTS! I FAIL ONE EXAM AND YOU BOTH DISOWN ME! YOU KICKED ME OUT OF OUR HOME AND ONTO THE STREETS!" The two older sunflowers glared at Alison and the older female sunflower said.  
"What we did, was out of love..." Alison screamed at her parents again.  
"OUT OF LOVE?! WHO OUT OF LOVE, THROWS THEIR DAUGHTER OUT ON THE STREET TO DIE? I ONLY SURVIVED BECAUSE AT LEAST ONE OF OUR FAMILY TRULY CARED ABOUT ME...NOW THEY'RE DEAD!" The two elder sunflowers growled and said simultaneously.  
"You were always the ungrateful child..." Alison yelled at them again, the flames that engulfed her head changed to a light blue.  
"UNGRATEFUL?! I WAS ALWAYS LOOKED OVER! I LIVED IN THE SHADOW OF MY OLDER BROTHER! IT WAS ALWAYS, BENARD THIS...BENARD THAT...BOTH OF YOU NEVER APpreciated me..."  
Alison couldn't continue, she was breaking down in tears. Sonatra and Alison's parents walked over to the emotionally distraught Fire Flower and her father said.  
"I'm so sorry Alison. We never knew how you felt...if we did we would have been better parents." Alison continued to cry, the pain of 26 years of suffering finally escaping her system.

Pete looked into the eyes of his brother, who promptly looked away. Pete growled and said.  
"Why can't you look me in the eyes, one last time?" Jack sighed and looked like he was on the verge of tears when he said.  
"I might forget you're my enemy." Pete lowered his defences and said.  
"Well do it...I want my brother back." Jack sighed and started tearing up as he said.  
"So do I." Pete smiled and said.  
"Well come on then. What are we waiting for? Let's try and go back to being brothers again." Jack also smiled and said with tears running down his face.  
"I would like that." Pete turned around and made his way towards the exit of the dark graveyard. Just after turning around, a cool, sharp sensation ran through Pete's stem. Pete turned around to find Jack in tears and holding a knife covered in Peashooter blood. Jack whispered to Pete as Pete collapsed.  
"I'm so sorry. Please tell mum and dad I truly am." Pete growled at Jack and said weakly.  
"You coward. You couldn't have fought me like a..." Pete couldn't continue, he had blacked out. Jack lay his brother down on the ground, his vision blurred by the tears. Jack pulled out a pen and a document that had his brothers name on it, and crossed it out.

* * *

 _FLASHBACK TO A LONG TIME AGO_

* * *

"P-please...don't throw me out...I never meant to fail..." The young Fire Flower pleaded to the older sunflower that threw her out the front door and said.  
"You've shamed the Helianthus name, you aren't our child anymore." The sunflower slammed the front door shut and the Fire Flower sat on the lawn and cried. When she stopped, she looked up at the star filled night sky and wondered to herself, which star was her younger sister. After some more yelling from inside, a sunflower that was only two years older than the Fire Flower came out and said.  
"Look sis, we need to get out of here, before mum and dad find out I'm gone." The Fire Flower nodded and set off after her older brother who had already set off down the lawn. The two plants talked about their stingy parents and how unfortunate their other two living siblings were to still be there when a rocket flew out of nowhere towards the Fire Flower. The slightly older sunflower jumped in front of his sister and took the rocket, he fell as soon as the rocket hit. The Fire Flower looked down at her older brother and cried out in anguish.  
"NO! Benard...please don't be dead! I-I..." A pool of blood began to form and the Fire Flower realized she couldn't save her brother. When she felt his pulse finally stop, she cried and muttered to herself. "This is all my fault...I failed to pass my medical exam...I failed my family...and now I've failed the one plant that really did care about me..."


	12. Chapter 12: Shocked parents

Desmond, Benard, Ali and Calamity walked out into the hallway that Alison, Sonatra and her parents were in. Alison's mother looked up at the new arrivals and screamed when she saw Calamity. Alison's father looked up, threw himself in front of his wife and said.  
"What is that thing?! It's definitely not alive." Calamity growled at the elder sunflowers and said.  
"I may be undead, but I'm still a plant and I still have feelings..." Calamity was interrupted by Alison's mother.  
"This isn't possible...It shouldn't be...kill it with fire!" Calamity looked taken aback and Desmond stepped in and said.  
"Who do you think you are? To come in here and judge a plant based on their appearance..." Alison cut Desmond off and said through the tears.  
"Desmond stop. Speak to your...grandparents with a little respect." Now it was Desmond's turn to be shocked. He stammered.  
"M-My grandparents?" Alison's parents were also taken aback and her father said.  
"Grandparents?! That means our son in law is a Peashooter! And our grandson an eff-ing Fire Pea?! Alison, you have bought shame on our house one too many times now..." Alison got up, glared at her parents and yelled.  
"I KNEW THIS WOULD HAPPEN! I WOULD FIND SOMEONE WHO REALLY DID LOVE ME THAT WASN'T A SUNFLOWER AND YOU WOULD BOTH HATE THEM! NOT ALL PEASHOOTERS ARE SCUM! NOT ALL CHOMPERS OR CACTI EITHER! YOU NEVER WANTED ME TO BE HAPPY!" Alison was in tears again while her parents smirked and said in unison.  
"So where is our son in law?" Desmond growled and said.  
"Sacrificing himself to protect us." Alison looked down and said as well.  
"We haven't been formally...joined together yet. But like my son said, he isn't here now, he's off doing...something." Alison's parents continued to smirk and her father said.  
"Looks like we were right in the end Petunia. If she survived, she would fall in love with a gutter rat..." Alison cut her father off and shouted at him.  
"HE ISN'T A GUTTER RAT! HE'S SUFFERED WORSE THAN ME!" Just then, a blood covered Toxic Pea stumbled through the front door and said.  
"Sonatra, I need your help..." The Toxic Pea cut himself off when he saw Alison, Desmond, Benard and Calamity. After a few seconds, he managed to stammer.  
"Y-You! How did you get here?" Desmond tackled the Toxic Pea and yelled at them.  
"WHERE'S MY DAD?! IF YOU HURT HIM I WILL KILL YOU!" The look of worry on the Toxic Pea's face changed to one of pure glee as he said maliciously.  
"Lying in a ditch, bleeding out after I shoved this knife in his throat!" The Toxic Pea pulled out a knife that was covered in blood and Desmond hopped off of them in shock. Sonatra glared at the Toxic Pea and said.  
"You're all kinds of messed up Colin...what happened to you? Ali pass me my phone." Ali handed Sonatra her phone. Sonatra dialed the emergency services and said.  
"I need a L.E.A.F officer around here now. My...friend has done something awful." While Sonatra talked to the emergency services, Alison explained to Desmond why she hadn't seen her parents in a very long time. Benard restrained Colin with Calamity's help and Alison's parents talked between eachother feverishly.

The small child wandered the darkened graveyard, eyes peeled for anything green. She gripped the crossbow her father made for her tightly, she was afraid of being attacked. After wandering the graveyard for ten minutes, a decaying Arctic Trooper approached the young girl and said.  
"Hey...have you found any?" The young girl jumped and nearly shot the zombie. She frowned at the zombie and said.  
"Not cool dad. I could have shot you." The zombie laughed and said.  
"Very punny...You remember who the true enemy is though?" The little girl smiled and said.  
"Of course I do. Humans and Zombies shouldn't be enemies, we all need to know that the plants are the true enemy." The Arctic Trooper smiled and said.  
"That's my girl. Come on, I'll help you bag a couple ay?" The girl rolled her eyes and said.  
"Come on dad, that's unfair. You have a rocket launcher." The zombie simply laughed and said.  
"Fine then, I will just use my knife...deal?" The young girl shook her hand with her father's decaying hand and said.  
"DEAL! Let's go bag us some plants."

After twenty minutes, the small girl found a knocked out Peashooter, blood covering its beaten body. She quickly grabbed them, to her disappointment, they still had a pulse, and threw them into the large bag she had with her. Her father came over to her and asked.  
"What did ya get?" She opened up the bag and said.  
"Just a Peashooter...it's still alive though as if it has something important to do..." Her father growled when he looked into the bag and said.  
"I know this plant...We take it back alive and interrogate it later." The small girl nodded and set off after her father. The little girl walked beside her father as they waltzed into the large base that was full of zombies, but also humans. An old, decaying paleontologist approached them and asked.  
"What did ya get this time?" The Arctic Trooper frowned slightly and whispered to the paleontologist.  
"A plant that has been a problem to us for a long time now." The paleontologist also frowned and signalled the young girl and her father to follow her to their office.


	13. Chapter 13: A different kind of human

Five minutes after Sonatra called the emergency services, Petunia, Alison's mother, asked.  
"So. What is the name of our to be...son in law?" Petunia sounded disgusted as she said the last half of her sentence. Alison frowned and said.  
"Pete, Lathyrus..." Alison's father cut her off and said.  
"Did you just say Lathyrus?! I hope you didn't." Now Desmond was frowning as well and asked.  
"What's the matter with my last name..." Petunia cried out in anguish.  
"And our grandson carries the cursed name! This is the end of the Helianthus line." Alison sighed and asked.  
"What is the matter with the name?" Petunia looked at her husband and said.  
"You tell her Lou, I think it's best." Lou looked down, sighed and began.  
"You all know how some families are basically known across suburbia? Ours WAS known for its skills in producing sundrops and then our healing skills. Of course that was before Alison's...mistake. The Lathyrus family were known for their fierceness in battle, especially when someone they cared about was in danger. They were always a small family because they all shared a common attribute, that would do anything for someone they cared about..." Alison frowned harder when she said.  
"That's why Pete was always so willing to throw himself in front of a rocket, fist or pellet for me." Lou and Petunia frowned and Lou continued.  
"Mmm, If we knew about this, we would have split you two straight away. My brother fell in love with a Lathyrus, the fool. His girlfriend uprooted in the middle of an assault, changed lanes and sacrificed herself to save him. Your uncle stabbed himself the following night." Petunia hugged Lou and Alison looked at her parents in disbelief. Alison said angrily at her hugging parents.  
"You would have split me from the one plant that loves me?! I can't believe it, all over a NAME!" Petunia glared at Alison and said.  
"It would have been for the best. At least you wouldn't have been hurt like your uncle." Petunia's expression changed to sympathy when she said. "It may not have, and may still not seem like it, but we really do love you..." Alison looked at her mother and said angrily.  
"If you really love me, you would be happy I'm with Pete and that we have a child."

Pete woke up in a dark, dingy office. He was shackled to a chair that appeared to be falling apart. Looking around, his dark brown eyes fell upon the face of a small human girl. He looked at the human in surprise and asked.  
"Wh-where am I?" The human looked at him and said coldly.  
"None of your business scum...Just wait till my dad shows up. Speaking of him, here he his." The human looked at something behind Pete's chair and said.  
"Dad, just in time. Our guest has just woken up." An uneven, deep and strange voice replied.  
"Rosy. Have you been speaking to this...weed?" Pete growled but Rosy quickly slapped him. Pete stopped in shock, a human, someone he would throw his life on the line for simply because it was in his DNA, slapped him. Rosy didn't even look affected by what she had done. Soon after, an Arctic Trooper placed their decaying hand on her shoulder and said.  
"Well done Rosy. Remember, no mercy for their kind." The human smiled at the compliment and said.  
"Da papa." Pete looked at the two in shock, a zombie, let alone an elite, didn't harm the human. A paleontologist came around the chair and said to the Arctic Trooper.  
"Alexi, I think we should start." Alexi nodded and asked Rosy to leave the room. When Rosy closed the door behind her, the paleontologist went and locked the door. With the door locked, Alexi started by saying.  
"Why are you so different? You didn't die to wound that would have killed any other weed..." Pete growled at Alexi and said.  
"I am NOT, a weed." Alexi growled and shot Pete in the stem. Pete bit back the urge to swear while Alexi said.  
"I'm not in the mood for games...plant, so answer the question!" Pete glared at Alexi and said.  
"Because I'm not one to lay down and die when there are plants I need to protect..." Alexi laughed at the bleeding Peashooter and said.  
"You? Protecting something? I don't remember you doing that all those years ago. You know, the night my brains were EATEN!" Pete looked at the zombie in shock as they leant towards him and whispered.  
"I remember you now. You're one of the peashooters that were supposed to protect me. You didn't do your job then...I doubt you'll do it today." Pete growled at Alexi but didn't offer a reply. The Arctic Trooper was unimpressed so he shot Pete till he finally gave in and yelled in pain. Pete took a whole clip from the frozen Z1-Assault Blaster.

When Alexi was done, he unchained Pete and grabbed him by the throat. Pete managed to say through the grip.  
"I-I...c-can't...breathe." The zombie smiled maliciously and said.  
"Good, I can't wait for you to die..." Alexi was interrupted by the paleontologist who said.  
"Spare the weeds life. We could use him." Alexi frowned before dropping Pete who landed on the floor coughing. Alexi smirked at the wounded Peashooter but decided he wasn't in enough so he kicked the Peashooter in the head. Pete simply groaned after the kick to the head. Pleased, Alexi picked up Pete and dragged him to one of the cells in the base's prison.

* * *

 _FLASHBACK TO A LONG TIME AGO_

* * *

The repeater fired as fast as he could against the football zombie that ran down his lane. Despite his best attempts, he appeared to be making no progress and was hoping the planter would react soon. Just as the football zombie was about to attack the repeater who held his ground, the football zombie stood on a rake which finished it off. Only 1 minute later, his eldest son, a repeater as well, finished off the last browncoat. Just as the plants on lawn defence prepared to unroot for the night, the earth began to shake. The plants looked back at the approach, the sight they got shocked them all. A large robot being controlled by a strange looking zombie was slowly walking it's way towards the house. When he saw the fear in the other plants eyes, the Repeater dug his roots deeper into the ground and prepared to fight the machine, even if it would mean his death. The repeater looked over at his son, they were also preparing for a fight. Realizing that if they both died their family would be in danger. He yelled out across the lawn to his son.  
"JACK! GO INSIDE WITH THE OTHER PLANTS! PROTECT THEM IF THEY GET PAST ME!" The repeater named Jack yelled back.  
"BUT DAD..." The repeater glared at his son and yelled.  
"GO! NOW! PROTECT YOUR MOTHER AND BROTHER!" The Repeater turned back towards the Zombot which now loomed over him. He growled as the giant metal foot crushed him.  
The Repeater expected the blow to kill him, but something inside him burned brighter than the dark that had attempted to engulf him. Opening his eyes, something far above yelled out and before the repeater knew what was happening, he was being forcefully uprooted by a zombie that he had never seen before. The zombie managed to unroot him and somehow propel themselves to the top of the Zombot. A scream broke out from the house and soon plants were running out of the building, some covered in human blood. The strange zombies laughed as some of the plants fled. The zombie that controlled the robot said to the repeater.  
"What makes you so different? You should be dead!" The repeater growled at the zombie but couldn't help and wonder about the same question.


	14. Chapter 14: Compassion?

It had been 6 hours since Colin was arrested for suspected murder. Alison at the dinner table in Sonatra's home with the other plants that were at Sonatra's home.  
Alison glared at her parents while she also began to feel worried for Pete. She may be mad at him but he was dead, she would never forgive herself. Sonatra frowned,  
she could see Alison was beginning to feel worried about Pete so she said.  
"I may not have been around Pete as long as you, Alison. But in my short time around him I've learnt he's tough and won't let himself go down until you and Desmond are safe." Alison smiled weakly at Sonatra before saying.  
"I'm going back to the graveyard if he isn't back soon." Desmond and Sonatra frowned while Desmond said.  
"If you're going mum, I'm going..." Alison cut her son off and said in her 'it's final' voice.  
"No you aren't!" She began to tear up as she said. "If I find your father dead, then you die...I don't know how I would go on." The tears threatened to flow as she thought of the possible outcomes. Desmond looked down, he didn't want to argue with his mum. Calamity patted Desmond's back and said.  
"I will protect Desmond...if he goes." Benard looked up from his food and said in a agreement.  
"And so will I." Ali smiled and said.  
"And so shall I." Alison smiled weakly. But what Petunia and Lou said shocked everyone in the table.  
"We wish to meet our to be son in law and make it up to you, Alison. So we are also coming." Alison stared at her parents in disbelief and Sonatra said.  
"I suppose I should come as well...seems like fun." Alison looked around the table and smiled her biggest grin at them all. She ended up saying.  
"Well then, I suppose we all could go after dinner." The lot of them cheered before returning to the food set before them.

Pete stuck his head out of the cell he was in and looked around, only one other cell was occupied. The cell opposite his was occupied by a savage looking human that never looked up as they said in a parched, gruff voice.  
"Aren't you going to shoot me? That's the only reason you're in that cell is to kill me." Pete frowned and said.  
"Why would I kill you?" The human snorted and said.  
"Don't play ignorant weed. Just finish me off already." Pete frowned harder and said.  
"I'm not a weed and I'm not here to kill you. It's plant law to never hurt a human." The guards at the end of the hall laughed while the human finally looked at Pete and said in shock.  
"Well if you let Rosy slap you without trying to hurt her, I suppose it was either shock or actual goodwill that stopped you." One of the guards used the butt of their rifle to knock Pete's head back into his cell. Pete growled at the human but didn't shoot, it wasn't worth breaking the law over. Half an hour later, the door at the end of the hall opened and Rosy, her father and the paleontologist walked towards Pete's cell. The paleontologist opened the cell and Alexi grabbed Pete. The group then went through the giant base that was bustling with both zombies and humans into the office that Pete had first woken up in. The office was the same, dark, dingy, the only difference being that the blood that had stained the room had been cleaned.

Alexi chained Pete to the seat again and asked.  
"Are you willing to co-operate now?" Pete glared at the Arctic Trooper before asking.  
"What happens if I co-operate?" The Arctic Trooper laughed and said.  
"I won't beat the grass out of you...straight away." Pete growled and said.  
"Fine then. What do you want to know?" Alexi smirked and asked.  
"Why were you knocked out in the graveyard?" Pete frowned and said.  
"I was betrayed by my bro...an old friend." Alexi also frowned and said.  
"Must hurt being betrayed by the ones that you put your trust? At least you know how I felt when the browncoats walked into my home." Pete growled again and said.  
"I wasn't old enough to fight that night so don't take your anger out on me! My father died trying to protect you!" Alexi slapped Pete and yelled at him.  
"I KNOW! YOU DON'T THINK I WOULD FEEL SLIGHTLY GUILTY KNOWING THE FEW OF YOU WHO REALLY STOOD UP FOR ME DIED?! WHEN I FOUND OUT ROSY WAS BORN THE NIGHT BEFORE I DIED,  
I WAS THE HAPPIEST AND THAT I WOULD HAVE TO PROTECT HER!" Pete interrupted the mad zombie and said.  
"I know how that feels. When I found out I was a father I made a vow to never let my child be hurt and...I failed in the first two days...I still haven't forgiven myself."  
Alexi stopped and looked into the bloodied peashooters eyes and saw something he hadn't seen before in another creature, true compassion. Pete looked into the zombies eyes and saw that the zombie still had feelings. Rosy looked at her father and said in a concerned voice.  
"Pa? What's wrong?" Alexi looked away from Pete and asked.  
"Rosy come here, please." Rosy walked over and Alexi continued. "Look into his eyes. What do you see?" Rosy looked into Pete's eyes and stepped back in shock before saying.  
"NO! It can't be! P-Plants shouldn't feel compassion and hurt..." She never finished her sentence, she was too busy trying to calm herself down. Alexi frowned and said.  
"So you aren't lying? You really do have a family to protect." Pete smiled weakly and said.  
"Yes. I hope they don't come looking for me, it's too dangerous, things are changing...and it doesn't look good for me and my family."


	15. Chapter 15: Sacrifices?

The paleontologist grabbed their blaster and held it up to the back of Pete's head. When Pete felt the heat emanating from the boney muzzle of the shotgun, he growled.  
Alexi looked at the bone wearing paleontologist and said uneasily.  
"Put it down Francois." The paleontologist smirked and said.  
"What's the matter Alexi? Only an hour ago you were describing to me this worthless weeds death." Alexi growled at the paleontologist and said.  
"Plans can change. I need this plant alive..." Francois laughed and said.  
"You feel sorry for it? You were always the weak one. Wait till the warden hears about th..." Francois cut himself off and looked down, a pole protruded from his chest. An alarm rang out and all hell broke loose in the large base. When the paleontologist collapsed, an exhausted voice said so quietly it was nearly a whisper.  
"N-not my..." The noise of something slumping to the floor sounded out and Pete felt a strange feeling run down his stem. Alexi asked Rosy to unlock Pete while he investigated where the voice came from. Pete thanked Rosy for unlocking him before setting off after Alexi. Alexi and Pete walked back into the office one minute later with a downed Repeater. Alexi lay the Repeater down on the desk while Pete set about reviving the Repeater. Alexi looked out of a window that was always covered and swore at what he saw. The giant steel gates into the base were being locked while the number of guards was being doubled. Someone knocked on the door and asked.  
"Hey, Alexi. You in there?" Alexi frowned and said.  
"Yeah." The voice replied.  
"The warden wants to see you." Alexi swore silently and said.  
"Ok, I will go see her in a minute." The voice replied before walking off.  
"Ok, I'll tell her." Alexi frowned and said to Rosy.  
"Make sure no one comes into here while I'm gone...and make sure the two plants stay in here." Rosy nodded and Alexi walked out into the large base. Rosy locked the door behind her father and sat next to Pete. The injured Peashooter lay his pod against the downed Repeater's chest and had a look of concentration on his face. Rosy looked at the two plants questioningly before asking.  
"What are you doing?" Pete frowned and said in frustration.  
"Trying to revive them. I can't and it's making me feel so helpless." Rosy frowned at the plant when she saw it on the verge of tears so she asked.  
"How do you revive them?" Pete sighed and replied.  
"You place your...hand on their chest, over their heart and focus on the energy in you. I feel so weak right now...I think if I revive them, I'll collapse." Rosy pushed the injured Peashooter aside and placed her hand on the Repeater's chest. She gasped when she felt some of the energy in her drain from, what felt like, her hand. After a few seconds, the sensation stopped and the Repeater coughed. Pete and Rosy looked at eachother in shock and the Repeater managed to say weakly.  
"P-Pete, Is that you?" Pete smiled weakly and nodded. The Repeater also smiled weakly and said.  
"Oh thank Dave. My sacrifices were worth it in the end." Pete looked at the Repeater and asked.  
"What sacrifices?" The Repeater frowned and said.  
"I will explain later. Right now, we need to get out of here..." Pete frowned at the Repeater and cut them off.  
"I at least want to know who you are." The Repeater sighed, a look of self-loathing forming on their face. The said in a voice of disappointment.  
"I...I'm your father." Pete stumbled backwards in shock.

Alison sighed as she walked into the large graveyard with Desmond, Benard, Calamity, Ali, Sonatra and her parents. Sonatra walked up to her and said.  
"Look, if we split up into two groups, we can cover the graveyard in half the time." Alison nodded and said.  
"Yes, but how are we gonna split?" Desmond walked up to his mother and said.  
"I-I could go with my friends while you could go with Miss Sonatra, grandpa and grandma." Alison frowned and sighed. She eventually said.  
"I need to let you grow up at some point...Yes, you go with your friends, us adults will stick together." Desmond hypered towards his friends while Alison frowned at her son and thought, was I making the right decision. Lou frowned at Alison and said.  
"He'll be fine, I'm sure of it. If he has Lathyrus blood in him, he will find this Pete." Alison smiled weakly and asked.  
"What makes you so certain?" Petunia smiled at her daughter and said.  
"No one knows for certain. The families have like a...mental connection between each other that acts like a...beacon when we're in trouble. Unfortunately our family has fallen apart and so has the connection." Alison frowned and asked.  
"Why haven't I felt that connection before? Even if it wasn't my siblings or you two...I should have that connection with my son." Lou sighed and said.  
"You're family hasn't exactly...formed. You need to be linked to a partner before the links start forming." Alison frowned harder and said.  
"Why didn't I make him my partner when I had the chance." Sonatra smiled at Alison and said.  
"Let's not think of this, we need to go and look for Pete." Alison nodded and the group of adults set off.

Edi watched the undead Peashooter lead the same Fire Pea and Hot Rod Chomper that had buried him not to long ago, as well as a sunflower, through the graveyard. The group of plants appeared to be searching for something. Edi grabbed his shotgun and set off after the group of plants. After 5 minutes of stalking the plants, Edi was close enough to warp right into the group of plants. Picking his target carefully, Edi warped into the group of plants, grabbed the Fire Pea by their throat and warped out. From behind himself, Edi heard the sunflower scream out.  
"DESMOND!" Edi smirked at the squirming plant, the fire on their head slowly getting smaller. Edi threw the Fire Pea as hard as he could against a gravestone, which caused the plant to groan in pain, before he aimed his shotgun at the Fire Pea. When Alison heard Ali scream out her son's name, she swore and set off after the scream. Calamity hypered in the direction the scientist had warped while Ali rode Benard who ran after the undead Peashooter. The bushes behind Edi began to shaking so the scientist pulled the trigger on the shotgun. The triple barrels of the chemical blasting shotgun, propelled their projectiles at the Fire Pea who was trying to get up. When the projectiles made contact, the Fire Pea yelled out in pain before collapsing.


	16. Chapter 16: Deep regrets

Pete managed to stammer as he stared at the Repeater in shock.  
"N-No...you should be..." The Repeater cut Pete off and said in a voice coated with self-loathing.  
"Dead? No, I made the worst deal ever. I betrayed my family, my friends...I don't deserve the Lathyrus name." Pete continued to look at the Repeater in shock before finally saying.  
"What did you do?" The Repeater sat up, sighed and said.  
"It began the night of the attack..."

* * *

 _FLASHBACK TO A LONG TIME AGO_

* * *

The weak Repeater was held up by a zombie that vaguely resembled a human soldier. The zombie made the Repeater look at the strangest looking zombie of all. They had a large brain protruding from the back of their head, but also wore a lab coat that appeared to be well kept. The strangest looking zombie spoke.  
"Are you too stupid to speak? I've met Wall-Nuts smarter than you." The repeater, despite knowing his life was nearing it's end growled and said.  
"I'm not one of your zombies, you can't just order me around..." The Soldier zombie tightened their grip around the Repeaters throat and said in a menacing voice.  
"No one, talks to our leader like that." The Repeater's eyes widened in fear as he realized death for him was approaching fast. To try and extend his life and try to save his family, the Repeater managed to say.  
"I-I want t-to...make a d-deal." Just as darkness began to envelope the Repeater, the Soldier zombie relaxed their grip and the Repeater gasped as they could finally breathe again. The leader of the zombies replied in a nearly joking tone.  
"And what do you propose?" The Repeater stuck the zombie with a look of determination and said.  
"My service, in exchange you spare my family." The leader of the zombies laughed and said.  
"What sought of service can you provide me?" The Repeater frowned and said.  
"I can tell you where our best fighters are." The leader of the zombies seemed intrigued and said.  
"Fine then. I shall just send in my zombies to...fetch your family." The Repeater sighed in relief while the leader of the zombies signalled the soldier zombie to enter the house. After three minutes, the Zombot moved forward and got into a position where the leader of the zombies and the repeater could see inside. Almost immediately, chills ran down the Repeater's stem and an Ice Pea yelled at him.  
"YOU TRAITOR! MY FATHER WAS RIGHT! I NEVER SHOULD HAVE FELL IN LOVE WITH A..." The Ice Pea was cut off, she was quickly filled with yellow pellets from the strange weapon the soldier zombie carried. The Repeater felt a large hole develop inside his soul, a deep longing forming. A zombie grunted and reached into a hidden crevice, which led them to pulling out a young Repeater who appeared to be on the verge of tears. The older Repeater that was chained down to the Zombot looked at the terrified Repeater that was being held up by a browncoat that appeared to be eyeing up a chunk of their stem and said.  
"S-Son...I-I'm so..." The younger Repeater simply cried out.  
"I WISH YOU WERE NEVER MY FATHER! YOU AREN'T A REAL..." And like his mother, the young Repeater was shot by the soldier zombie and dropped onto the floor. The Repeater felt another hole forming in their soul, they felt like there was no hope left for them, but a small light still shined and refused to give up, it was his last remaining son, and he was determined to protect him from the same fate as his brother and mother. The Repeater glared at the leader of the zombies and yelled at them,  
using the hope that his son was giving him to keep him going.  
"YOU BASTARD! YOU BROKE YOUR END OF THE DEAL..." The leader of the zombies laughed and said.  
"Of course I did, I mean, what did you expect?"

* * *

 _FLASHBACK TO THE PRESENT_

* * *

The bushes behind Edi burst apart and an enraged, undead Peashooter tackled him to the ground. Edi tried to push the undead Peashooter off of himself, but they appeared to have rooted themselves into the ground, four, rotating barrels now protruding from their mouth. Edi growled at them and said.  
"I bought you back to life Calamity. You wouldn't hurt little old me?" Edi took advantage of the undead Peashooters momentary hesitation and grabbed his shotgun. Edi laughed as he pulled the trigger twice and knocked out the undead Peashooter. Calamity blacked out before being able to do any damage to the scientist, Ali and Benard coming across him first. Ali hoped off Benard and revived Calamity, who appeared to be shocked and murderously angry. Calamity hypered after the sound of a warping scientist while Ali hoped back up on Benard to continue the search for Desmond. When they did find Desmond, he had a cut on his head that had left a large pool of blood around the gravestone he was leaning against while the fire on his head was dangerously small. Ali quickly revived Desmond who gasped in shock when he opened his eyes. Ali made a bandage out of a dirty, ragged top that she had found lying on the ground nearby and covered the cut on Desmond's head. Nearby, Alison yelled out.  
"ALI! BENARD! CALAMITY! WHERE ARE YOU?!" Ali yelled back.  
"OVER HERE! DOWN IN THIS DITCH!" After a few seconds, Calamity burst out of the bushes, a deep gash running down his stem, the gash bleeding heavily, Calamity breathing heavily. Ali gasped at the undead Peashooter and asked.  
"W-What happened?" A dark smile formed on his face as he said menacingly.  
"I gave the scientist...a taste of his own...medicine." Ali shied away from the undead Peashooter and said in fear.  
"C-Calamity, w-what are you l-looking at?" The dark smile deepened and he said.  
"A lovely salad." As soon as Calamity finished speaking, he lunged at Ali. Before the undead Peashooter could hurt the sunflower, Desmond threw himself in front of them and took the tackle. Calamity began to rip chunks out of Desmond's stem as he yelled out in pain. Alison screamed when she heard the cries of pain and ran as fast she could towards the yell of pain. Ali tried to push Calamity off of Desmond, but he appeared to be harder to move than normal. After a few seconds, Benard came out from behind some bushes and tackled the undead Peashooter, using his head as a ram. Calamity yelped as he was thrown across the clearing into a gravestone, he was knocked out cold. Alison burst into the clearing with the other adults just after Calamity blacked out and she immediately ran to her son who was bleeding, dangerously.


	17. Chapter 17: On your own

Alison grabbed the ragged remains of a dirty top that lay nearby and covered as many of the wounds on her son as she could. Desmond was barely conscious when he managed to say weakly.  
"C-Calamity...zombie...went c-crazy..." Alison cut her son off and said in a terrified voice.  
"You'll be alright, I promise." Desmond smiled weakly before blacking out. Alison nearly screamed, tears now freely flowing, evaporating after a few seconds. Lou and Petunia gathered around their grandson and began healing the multiple wounds in an attempt to extend the small Fire Pea's life. Benard walked over to Calamity who was coming to, a look of confusion on their face. When Calamity saw the growling Hot Rod Chomper approaching him, he stammered in fear.  
"B-Benard...w-what are you doing?" Still growling, Benard said menacingly.  
"Giving you a taste of your own medicine." Calamity's eyes widened in fear when Benard lunged at him. Calamity yelled in pain as Benard ripped chunk after chunk out of his stem, even the undead felt pain. Ali ran over to the Hot Rod Chomper, threw herself in front of him and yelled.  
"BENARD, STOP! YOU'VE GONE FAR ENOUGH!" Benard growled at Ali and said in the same menacing voice.  
"Move Ali. This weed hasn't paid enough..." Ali cut off Benard and said in a voice full of terror.  
"He has...Just look, he's worse than Desmond." What Ali said was true, Calamity was missing more chunks of his stem than Desmond. Benard still growled and said.  
"Ali, he tried to eat you. If it weren't for Desmond, you would be on the ground bleeding out in pain..." Ali cut him off and said in defiance.  
"Well look at him...He's in the exact situation you just described..." Benard cut Ali off and said in satisfaction.  
"Good. I don't know why Desmond would trust the plant that gave him the most grief." Ali sighed and said.  
"I agree...but this is a plant's life on the line..." Benard cut Ali off again and said in anger.  
"Leave it Ali, it isn't a plant." Ali glared at the Hot Rod Chomper and turned around. She bent down and began covering the wounds on the undead Peashooter. Benard growled at her but she ignored him, getting angry, Benard shoved Ali onto Calamity and said in anger.  
"If you care about this weed's life over your own or Desmond's, I won't stop you then." Benard burrowed into the ground and headed towards the exit of the graveyard.  
Ali sighed, she would try to talk to Benard later. She pushed herself off of Calamity and continued trying to cover the wounds.

Desmond felt himself being dragged through the dark that engulfed him towards a bleak room. Letting himself move towards the dark room, he began to hear voices.  
"WHAT DO YOU SUGGEST I SHOULD HAVE DONE?" The yell breaking the silence. It was quickly followed up by another yell, this one oddly familiar.  
"DIE LIKE THE REST OF US WOULD HAVE!" By this time, Desmond could see inside the dark room. Inside the dingy office sat a human girl who stared at a Repeater arguing with an advanced Peashooter. When Desmond got a closer look at the advanced Peashooter, he realized it was his father. The human girl interrupted the argument and said.  
"Quiet. We're being watched." Desmond felt a strange chill run through his stem as a strange, female voice called out.  
"Who are you?" Desmond frowned and replied to the disembodied voice believing it was a figment of his imagination.  
"Desmond." The voice didn't reply for over a minute. When it did, it sounded angry as it said.  
"You shouldn't be here...Your father is fine though, he will make it out of here alive...barely." Desmond wanted to reply but he was being pulled away from the scene,  
the disembodied voice was barely audible when it said.  
"You will find him in the place where his story began..."

Desmond opened his eyes to find his mother looking over him, looks of worry and relief on her face. His mother said, relief clearly in her voice.  
"Thank Dave you're alright. How are you feeling?" Desmond sat up, he was lying in a bed he had never seen before and said.  
"I-I feel fine...M-Mum, I think I know where dad is." Alison began to tear up and said with regret and sadness running through her voice.  
"I think you're imagining things, we found his body near yours..." Desmond frowned and said.  
"N-No, he's where his story began...he can't have been in the graveyard." Alison looked at her son, worry on her face as she said.  
"Are you sure you're fine? I think you hit your head harder than we thought..." Desmond cut his mother off and said in anger.  
"NO! I'm fine, I know that I'm right, I will show you." Desmond got out of the bed and stormed out of the room he was in, it turned out he was in the hospital. Not wanting to be stopped by his mother, Desmond hypered out of the hospital and set off towards the one plant who might know where his father's story began.

Rosy opened her eyes to be disappointed, the two plants were still arguing. She got up and pulled the pole that protruded from Francois' chest out and swung it at Pete. The advanced Peashooter hit the floor with a thud as he collapsed and Rosy quickly knocked out the Repeater. She threw the two plants into her large travel pack and grabbed a pen and some paper. She wrote a note on the paper that read.  
* _Dear Father. I will be gone by the time you read this note. I am getting the two plants out of here and to a place they can be found by their family._ *  
Rosy placed the note on the desk, grabbed the crossbow her father had made for her and opened the door. She locked the door behind her and set off towards the back entrance of the base.


	18. Chapter 18: Crossing paths

Rosy walked through the large warehouse at the back of the large base that had been her home since the end of the war. She slipped through a hole in the wall that very few of the inhabitants of the base knew about, and set off into the small remains of Zomburbia. It took her over an hour to find the small graveyard that had been built next to an empty pool. Rosy carefully looked over the fence when a yell from her pack gave her a fright. She dropped the pack and an enraged Peashooter walked out of it, dragging an equally mad Repeater. The two plants glared at eachother, then Rosy, then at each other again. To stop the two arguing again, Rosy said.  
"Don't argue. If you want to see your family, you will stay here until they arrive." Pete frowned at the human and said.  
"How do you know they're coming?" Rosy smiled and said.  
"Your son still believes you're alive..." Pete cut off Rosy and said.  
"My son? Does everyone..." Rosy cut Pete off and finished his sentence for him.  
"Think you're dead? Unfortunately for you, yes." Pete sighed, they must have found the blood he would have left behind. Rosy looked back over the fence, a sunflower must have heard them so she said.  
"I have to go...Stay with the plant that's coming, she will help you...Hold this." Rosy gave Pete a purple, circular item before running off. Pete looked at Rosy before the purple device which started to beep. After a few seconds, the device exploded and blew Pete and his father onto their backs, Pete's pod severely mutilated,  
large cuts on each of their bodies. A sunflower screamed when she heard the explosion and ran forward to find a site that chilled her to the core. An advanced Peashooter whose pod had been badly mutilated lay on their back, large tears in their stem and bulb. Opposite the Peashooter, a Repeater with similar injuries, just not as bad or numerous. The Repeater looked stunned, at what had just happened while the Peashooter looked unconscious. The sunflower revieved the Peashooter before asking the Repeater to grab her pack which she had left in the small graveyard. When the Repeater got back, she had healed most of the serious wounds and began to cover the less serious injuries. The Peashooter sat up and asked.  
"Wh-Who are you?" The sunflower frowned, the voice sounded slightly deeper than a voice she remembered from a long time ago. She replied in a voice she hoped the Peashooter and Repeater would remember.  
"Josie." The Repeater stumbled back in shock while the Peashooter stared at the sunflower in deep thought. The Repeater broke the silence.  
"J-Josie? Josie Helianthus?" The sunflower nodded and said.  
"Yes...do I know you?" The repeater swore and said.  
"I thought you would have remembered the traitor that ruined all of our lives." It was Josie's turn to be shocked as she stammered.  
"N-No...How didn't I see it before, I knew you looked familiar...Corinth Lathyrus." Pete looked at Josie and said in astonishment.  
"Josie, you're a Helianthus?" Josie looked at the astonished Peashooter and said.  
"Yes I am...but I'm struggling to remember who you are..." Pete frowned and said.  
"I'm Pete...you know, your boyfriend's brother." Josie looked at the Pete in astonishment and said.  
"Pete! Now I remember...how is my ex anyway." Pete growled and said.  
"Hopefully lying in a ditch somewhere..." Corinth slapped Pete and said in anger.  
"Don't speak about your brother like that." Pete glared at his father before getting up and walking into the small graveyard, the crudely made tombstones paled in comparison to the tombstone that stood in the center of the graveyard. Pete approached the tombstone, tears forming in his eyes. Atop the tombstone stood a stone carving of an Ice Pea, immortalized in a pose of grief. When Pete was close enough, he read the epitaph that chilled him to the core.  
* _Here lies Elaine Lathyrus. A loving mother, wife, aunt and friend, she will be sorely missed by those that had the privilege of meeting her._ *

Desmond hypered towards the bus stop, the last bus of the night was taking on its last passengers. He leaped onto the bus just as the doors were closing, the leaves around his roots nearly getting caught in the door. An unimpressed human sat in the drivers seat and held out his hand to Desmond. Taking it, the human helped Desmond up before pointing to a sign next to the wheel that read.  
* _10 cents to ride_ *  
Desmond looked down when he realized he didn't have any money and said.  
"I-I don't have any money." The bus driver glared at Desmond and opened the door before saying.  
"Sorry bud, no free rides..." Just before Desmond stepped off the bus, a Peashooter got up and said.  
"Look, I'll pay for him, here." The human took the Peashooters money. Desmond looked at the Peashooter and asked as they walked to a seat near the back of the bus.  
"Thanks...but why?" The Peashooter looked at Desmond and said sadly.  
"I've made a lot of mistakes in my life, I'm just trying to right some of them." Desmond nodded his head, it seemed like the right thing for them to do. The rest of trip was spent in awkward silence, no one on the bus wanted to speak. It took an hour for the bus to reach the stop that Desmond hopped off at. When he did, he wished the Peashooter luck on their journey before setting off towards his neighbours home. It took Desmond an uneasy ten minutes to reach Wulf's house and by the time he did, it was just pass midnight. Desmond knocked on the door and waited for someone to answer, which took 5 minutes of continuous knocking. Finally the door opened to reveal a rather mad Wulf who was shocked when he saw Wulf. Vivian came down the stairs that were visible from the door and asked.  
"D-Desmond...What are you doing here?" Desmond looked at the Alien Flower and said in a tired voice.  
"I need to know where dad's story began...whatever that means." Wulf ushered Desmond inside and into the kitchen where Vivian had put the kettle onto boil, and said.  
"Desmond...why do you want to know where your dad's story began?" Desmond frowned and said.  
"Because mum thinks he's dead and I know he isn't and that he's where his story began." Wulf looked at Vivian, both had concerned looks on their faces before Wulf said.  
"If you really believe he's alive...then I guess we could go and see...I've always wanted to see the house for myself."


	19. Chapter 19: It's a trap! (Again :p)

Pete sat in front of the tombstone, he let the tears flow free, he couldn't hold it in any longer. Despite hating his father for what he had done, he respected the old Repeater for wanting to try and make up for what he had done. Corinth sat next to his son and patted him on the back while Josie went into the house that stood at the end of the yard, a row of decrepit, rusted lawn mowers standing guard over nothing. After a few minutes, Corinth said.  
"Look. I miss your mother as much as you...But sitting here isn't going to bring her back. Remember how I told you, all those years ago, that if we remember them in the head and in the heart, they never die?" Pete nodded and wiped his eyes before saying.  
"Of course...I can never forget a statement like that." Corinth smiled at his son and said.  
"Well then your mother isn't really dead. Look, I think we should go inside, it's well past midnight now and I could do with some sleep." Corinth stood up and went inside while Pete sat in front of the tombstone for a minute or two longer. When Pete got up and headed into the house that he once called home, Josie walked up to him and said.  
"You know, it gets lonely here being all alone and stuff." Pete looked at her with a questioning look and said.  
"Why don't you move then?" Josie sighed and said.  
"I don't know...something in me kept telling me to stay...and now I think I know why." Josie placed her equivalent to a hand on Pete's chest and walked around him,  
quickly pulling him into a hug before she continued. "You know...You are really attractive as an advanced plant, I can't believe I never saw the beauty in you before."  
Pete turned to look at the sunflower that held him in an embrace and said awkwardly.  
"Uh...Josie...Look, I have a girl plant and a son..." The sunflower that held him tightened her grip and said menacingly.  
"Well then...that's two more plants on my kill list and you..." Josie threw Pete onto the floor and tasered him into submission before continuing. "Will be mine..."

Desmond had slept the night at Wulf's and was up first, rearing to go and find out whether his father was alive or not. By the time Wulf and Desmond were ready to go,  
it was nearing lunch time. Vivian wished Wulf and Desmond a good journey and the two set off for a house that neither had seen, but Pete had given Wulf a map to find it years ago. It took the two plants most of the rest of the day to find the house, the graveyard that they saw chilled them, all the graves were for plants. The most elaborate tombstone that stood in the center of the graveyard was the most haunting for the two plants, the statue of the grieving Ice Pea haunting. The two plants continued to wander the yard until they realized they would have to enter the house. Wulf grabbed Desmond's pod and hypered them up into a hole that led into the attic, the smell of death was prevalent in the attic, even after 18+ years. Wulf tried to ignore it and headed down into the hallway, Desmond followed behind him. A yell of surprise catching the two plants off guard and causing Desmond to shoot Wulf in the back of the head. Wulf glared at Desmond and went to slap the Fire Pea, but the look of terror on Desmond's face stopped Wulf from doing it. The two plants turned around to find a frightened sunflower holding up a taser that was aimed at Desmond. Wulf looked at the sunflower and said.  
"Look, we aren't here to cause trouble...We're here looking for a Peashooter named Pete Lathyrus." The sunflower looked at the two plants that had showed up out of nowhere and said.  
"Of course...I know exactly where he is. Follow me please." Desmond went to set off after the sunflower but Wulf grabbed him and whispered.  
"Hide in the attic, this could be a trap." Desmond nodded at Wulf and went back up into the attic while Wulf followed the sunflower into a dark room. Just before Wulf could ask any questions, a sharp, shocking pain ran through his body. Wulf collapsed onto the floor, shocks of electricity coursing through him every now and then. Out of nowhere, the lights in the room turned on and a sunflower with a maniacal look glared at Wulf and said.  
"Where's your Fire Pea friend?" Wulf glared back at the sunflower and said through the pain.  
"Bite me." The sunflower was unimpressed. She used her taser as a club and beat the Plasma Pea in the head till he passed out.

Ali ran after Benard as he walked away from her, a determined look on her face. She called out again.  
"BENARD! Please stop and let me talk." Benard stopped, turned around and growled at Ali before saying.  
"Leave me alone. I don't want to hurt you." Ali glared at the Hot Rod Chomper and said angrily.  
"You can't hurt me any more...you already did when you got mad at me." Benard looked away from Ali and said.  
"P-Please leave me alone. I-I don't want to talk..." Benard felt like crying, but he couldn't, he never could. Ali approached Benard cautiously and said softly.  
"Look Benard...Please talk to me, I hate seeing you like this." Benard growled louder as Ali got closer and yelled menacingly.  
"LEAVE ME ALONE! CAN'T YOU TAKE A HINT!" From behind the distraught Hot Rod Chomper a weak voice said.  
"Don't speak to her like that, she's only trying to help." Benard turned around and said in an intimidating voice at the undead Peashooter.  
"You shouldn't have come back, you should have stayed away." Calamity smiled weakly at Benard and said.  
"I don't want a fight, I just want to make sure Ali is alright." Benard spat his saliva at Calamity who didn't see it coming and was quickly trapped in an immobilizing prison of the Hot Rod Chompers saliva. Ali jumped up on Benard and yelled at him.  
"BENARD! STOP! THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU'RE GOING TO DO." Benard growled and threw Ali off of himself before recoiling in shock and saying.  
"A-Ali...I-I'm so sorry...P-Please forgive me." Ali looked at Benard in shock, blood flowing from a cut on her face that she had gotten when she hit the ground. She managed to say.  
"D-Do I even know you anymore?" Benard approached Ali slowly and wrapped the leaves around his roots around her and said.  
"Yes you do. I'm so sorry, I wasn't thinking...Just please forgive me." Ali looked up at the hulking Hot Rod Chomper and said quietly.  
"I want to...but I don't know if you will forgive me." Benard hugged her tighter and said.  
"Of course I will forgive you..." The Hot Rod Chomper looked at the undead Peashooter who was slowly walking away and said.  
"Calamity...Take good care of Ali for me...I need to go." Benard released Ali before burrowing into the ground and heading away from the sad looking sunflower.


	20. Chapter 20: 4 Stories, 1 Path (SPECIAL)

**A/N: Something different this time. I haven't written in first person for a while soooo...I've decided to do it...and I've decided to do it with alternating Points of View (POV) so enjoy...oh and constructive criticism is appreciated...and I want to know if I should do these more often or not :D**

* * *

 _Wulf's POV_

* * *

I opened my eyes to find a sight that I did not want to see. I was shackled to a chair that appeared to be falling apart but the sight that worried me the most was the blood that coated the floor, most of it fresh. The bland concrete room was empty apart from the chair I was shackled in and another chair that appeared to be empty. An aggravated voice yelled out nearby.  
"Don't make me do it Corinth, just step out of the way." I tried to break my shackles but despite how old they looked, they were in surprisingly good shape. Five seconds later the old door was thrown open and a pissed off Sunflower stormed in, she was dragging a Repeater and a Peashooter. The sunflower looked at me and said.  
"Good, you're awake. Just in time to watch these two get taught a lesson on how to teach a lady." I felt revolted at the sunflower, the two plants that lay by her roots had clearly been having a tough time, cuts and bruises covering them all over. I growled at the deranged sunflower and said.  
"You're a maniac, look at them." The sunflower simply smiled at me and said sadisticly.  
"I have...and you will look like them if you don't cooperate." I glared at the sunflower and said as intimidating as I could.  
"I would like to see you try..." Before I could react, she had grabbed my throat and began to tighten her grip as she said.  
"You asked me to try, so don't look so surprised." I continued to glare at her, but the world was slowly being engulfed in darkness. Just as I was about to pass out,  
the sunflower yelped in surprise as she was pulled off of me by the Peashooter, who I just noticed was Pete. Pete said weakly but with defiance in his voice.  
"N-Not my friend..." The sunflower had pushed Pete off of herself and said.  
"You idiot, If I didn't want you, I would kill you." While the sunflower tried to subdue Pete, the Repeater had picked himself up and was trying to unshackle me. The Sunflower noticed and knocked the Repeater out before they could unshackle me. I looked at the Sunflower in shock, she was supposed to heal not hurt. I growled at her but I didn't bother speaking. It took the sunflower over five minutes to bring Pete down and when she did, she laughed at the beaten Peashooter and said.  
"Not much of a fighter Pete?" I looked at Pete in shock as he groaned and said.  
"I'm not...going to...hurt you...I c-can't..." The sunflower continued to laugh at him and said.  
"Stupid boy, you're worse than your brother."

* * *

 _Jack's POV_

* * *

I opened the gate into the small graveyard, the stone carving of my grieving Ice Pea mother still chilling. I walked across the yard and into the house, it seemed that Josie still hadn't moved. I wandered the small house till the sound of movement in the attic got my attention. I headed into the attic to find the same Fire Pea I had met on a bus the night before searching through some of the boxes. I slowly approached them and asked.  
"Hey, why're you here?" The Fire Pea jumped out of the box he was looking through, a look of terror on his face. When he realized who I was, he relaxed a little and said.  
"I'm here with a friend of my dad, we're looking for him...but neither of them have appeared and I'm worried." I looked at the Fire Pea who appeared to be on the verge of tears and said.  
"Well I'm here looking for a sunflower, have you seen her?" The smaller Fire Pea nodded and said uneasily.  
"Yeah. She walked off with my dad's friend not long after we arrived..." I cut the Fire Pea off and said.  
"Come with me please." The Fire Pea nodded uneasily and we made our way out of the attic. I looked at the Fire Pea and asked.  
"I never got your name kid." He looked at me uneasily and said cautiously.  
"D-Desmond...Desmond Lathyrus..." I said in shock, cutting off Desmond.  
"You're a Lathyrus as well?" The Fire Pea nodded again and I continued. "Well my name is Jack Lathyrus...So who is your father?" Desmond looked at me and said.  
"Pete Lathyrus." I stepped away from Desmond and stammered.  
"P-Pete, m-my brother...Look, he could be in danger so get up into the attic and stay there, I will get you if I find them." I ran down the hallway and threw open all the door until I found a sight that shocked me.

* * *

 _Pete's POV_

* * *

The knife Josie held to my throat was slowly beginning to dig it's way into my stem. I bit back the urge to say anything as she went on about how much more pathetic I was compared to my brother, arguing wasn't going to get me anywhere anytime fast. Just as Josie said she was going to end my life, the door was thrown open and an angry looking Peashooter stormed their way in, I quickly realized it was my brother. Josie stopped mid stroke and said in a disapointed voice.  
"Oh, it's you. I told you we're DONE! That means we aren't a thing anymore." Jack snorted at her and said.  
"I'm hear for your life, not your heart." Josie threw me onto my side and lunged at my brother. Jack dodged her and I threw him the knife Josie had been holding to my throat. Jack caught the knife and placed it into Josie's heart. She laughed at Jack and pulled the knife out of herself, blood pouring out of the hole, and stabbed my brother nowhere important. Josie collapsed onto the floor while Jack looked at her with an expression of longing.

* * *

 _Calamity's POV_

* * *

I slowly walked over to the crying sunflower and placed my undead pod over her shoulder. She initially recoiled from the contact, but quickly accepted it and I said as softly as I could.  
"D-Don't worry. I'm sure he'll be fine." Ali looked at me, tears pouring out of her eyes and said with deep sadness in her voice.  
"H-How d-do you know? A-And why do you care? He nearly killed you!" I looked back at her and thought for a second before saying.  
"I just know...And I care because I lost control and I had to pay the price." I looked away from Ali, until she did the unexpected and pulled me into a hug. I returned the gesture and she said softly.  
"Thank you...for not leaving me..." I smilled weakly and said as softly as my undead voice let me.  
"Thank you for still believing I can be saved."


	21. Chapter 21: A loss not worth it

Calamity and Ali sat together on the lawn hugging, neither plant wanted to let go, but they both knew that they couldn't be together. Calamity was the first to break the embrace as he pulled away from Ali and said.  
"Th-this is wrong...I shouldn't be doing this." Ali looked at the the undead Peashooter and said questioningly.  
"What do you mean?" Calamity realized what he said and began to panic internally. He looked at Ali and said cautiously.  
"I can't say, I promised I wouldn't." Ali encroached on Calamity who slowly shifted away from her as she said.  
"Tell me Calamity. Don't make me ask twice." Calamity stopped trying to get away and said quietly.  
"Ali...I'm not going back on my word. I don't want to be who I was in life...I want to be like...like..." Ali looked at Calamity, he was biting back tears and said.  
"I understand you want to start over...But I want to know why hugging me is wrong?" Calamity looked internally torn as he struggled to say.  
"P-Please don't speak of this. B-Benard...has...a crush on you..." Ali stared at Calamity in shock who stared back at her, fear in his eyes. The two plants stared at eachother for over a minute, until Ali broke the silence.  
"B-Benard...L-Likes me...W-What?" Calamity continued to stare at Ali as he slowly nodded his head. After a few seconds the sound of a rocket racing towards the two plants snapped them out of their thoughts. Just as Ali realized the rocket was aimed at her, the memory of her brothers death flashed before her. A few seconds into the memory, the scream of a Peashooter being knocked out snapped Ali out of the memory. She looked around to find Calamity laying on the ground, unmoving, a large burn mark on the front of his stem. Not wanting Calamity to suffer the same fate as Ali's brother, she revived the downed, undead Peashooter and helped him get into cover.

Pete got up and unshackled Wulf from the restraints that held him down to the chair. Wulf jumped out of the chair and immediately hit the floor, something had sapped all the energy out of him. Looking around, Wulf realized what had sapped the energy out of him, a wire was connected to the lower part of his stem and led to a hole at the end of the room. Wulf also noticed something that made him worry the most, the colour in his stem was slowly draining away from it's customary, swirling, dark blue, to a light blue and was continuing to lighten up. Before Wulf could rip out the wire, Pete had pulled it out and was gripping Wulf's stem where the wire was attached, blood was beginning to flow out of the hole. Wulf looked around towards Jack who was sneaking up behind Pete with the knife he had pulled out of his stem. Before Jack could insert the knife into his brothers back, Wulf had shot him which knocked Jack back away from his brother and also alerted Pete to the danger he was in. Despite not wanting to harm his brother, Pete knew that if he didn't, he wouldn't see daylight again. Getting up, Pete grabbed the knife Jack had dropped and placed it in his brother's chest and whispered.  
"I wish it didn't have to come to this...give mum my love...brother." Jack smiled weakly before going limp in Pete's arms. Laying his brother on the floor, Pete bit back the tears that threatened to burst forth and revived his father. Corinth got up and ran over to Jack's corpse and cried out.  
"WHAT HAPPENED?! N-Not my son..." The old Repeater was leaning over Jack's body as he let the tears fall. Pete was busy leaning over Wulf as he covered the small puncture wound that Wulf had in the lower part of his stem. Pete got up and walked over to the curtain that covered the dirty window and ripped off some to use as a bandaid to cover the small wound. When Pete finished covering the wound, he helped Wulf up and the two plants walked over to Pete's grieving father. The Repeater didn't notice his last remaining son grab their brothers pack and go through it. Pete searched through the pack till he found the item that had been causing Pete grief since he learnt of it. Pete and Wulf looked through the document, most of the names had been crossed out while Pete's name had been crossed out, rewritten then crossed out again. The two plants looked at the document, there were a few names still uncrossed, Josie, Ane, Sarah, Hershel, Mystic. Three of the names stood out to Pete but the most shocking thing on the document was the Hodges Family. Wulf looked at the name in disgust and said.  
"Shame Jack didn't get at them...The one who nearly ended all of us was a damn Hodge..." Pete slapped the weak Plasma Pea and said.  
"That's cruel Wulf, they made a mistake, get over it...that was fourteen years ago. I mean, this is an entire family we're talking about." Wulf sighed and said.  
"I'm just...they're the reason...I...it doesn't matter..." Pete looked at Wulf uneasily and said.  
"I will find out what you're talking about eventually, but first we have to get out of here..." Wulf looked at Pete uneasily and said.  
"Agreed but...uhhh...Pete, there's something I have to tell you...I may have bought your son here..."

Alison paced around the L.E.A.F headquarters lobby as she waited for her name to be called by a Cactus that sat behind a desk, the Cactus typing away at a computer doing whatever her job was. After 5 minutes, the Cactus called out Alison's name so Alison went over to the desk and the receptionist pointed Alison to a room at the end of a hallway that branched off to the right hand side of the base. Alison thanked the Cactus and set off for the room. Inside the small meeting room sat an Agent Pea that Alison hadn't seen for more years than she could remember. When the Agent Pea noticed her he said.  
"Alison. It's good to see you...it's been years." Alison blushed slightly as she took a seat opposite the Agent Pea and said.  
"It's good to see you to Jack. Look, my son has gone missing." Jack looked at Alison, concern on his face as he said.  
"We'll find him Alison. Do you have any idea where he could be?" Alison looked at the Agent Pea opposite her and said sadly.  
"Unfortunately no...hang on..." Her tone changed from sadness to optimistic as she said. "He said he was going to the place Pete's story started...I think I know how to find him." Jack smiled at Alison and said.  
"I took the liberty to call in a few...friends, when I heard you were coming. I hope you don't mind." The door into the room opened up and a Fire Cactus, Fire Chomper and Fire Pea walked in, each of them with smiles on their faces. Alison smiled back at them and said.  
"Joan, Elias, James...It's been too long." The Fire Cactus, named Joan, stepped forward and said.  
"When we heard you needed some help, we thought it would be a great opportunity to get back together and go on another mission together." Alison continued to grin at the fire plants before and said.  
"I couldn't think of any better plants to help..." Suddenly realization struck Alison like a ZPG, despite the fact she had never been struck by a ZPG. She had realized that she wouldn't have Pete by her side, the one plant she thought she would always be with and never forget, she had managed to forget briefly.


	22. Chapter 22: The anger of a Sativum

Ali and Calamity lent against the wall they were using as cover, neither plant knew where the rocket had come from. A dark voice spoke out from down the street, the voice sounded like a deeper version of Calamity's.  
"Come out...we'll end it quickly if you do." Calamity looked over the wall and called said as intimidating as he could.  
"I'd like to see you try." Before the undead Peashooter could react, he was sent onto his back by a rapid barrage of spikes and yellow pellets, getting knocked out for the second time in a minute. Ali quickly revived Calamity and pulled the spikes out of his bulb, they appeared to have been from a Cactus. Calamity was growling deep in his throat as he said.  
"A-Ali...g-get out of...here..." Ali cut Calamity off and said in a terrified voice.  
"No...I'm not going to leave you here to die..." Calamity pushed Ali away and said angrily.  
"GO! Don't make me have to make you Ali!" Ali looked at the undead Peashooter with a hurt expression and said angrily.  
"I may not be an Asteraceae, but I can fight." Calamity pushed her again and yelled at her.  
"GO, ALI! Please...p-please..." Calamity was on the verge of tears. Ali grabbed Calamity and made him walk with her.

Benard watched out from a small alley off the side of the square he had been in not long ago. He watched in shock as Ali helped Calamity up despite the undead Peashooter trying to push her away. As Benard watched Ali and Calamity, he felt something deep inside him die, he liked Ali, a lot, but he realized she probably didn't like him. Benard turned away from the square and said quietly to himself.  
"Why are you so surprised? Who would like a...stupid, slobbery chomper like yourself." Benard slowly wandered the small confines of the apartment block he was using as his home until he found somewhere else to go. After finding his room, a dark, purple gas began to fill it. Before getting a chance to react, the gas quickly engulfed the sad Hot Rod Chomper. Benard roared out in pain and a few seconds later, his whole world was engulfed in darkness. He had been hit, hard by the heavy ordinance that foot soldiers fired from the rocket launcher on their backs.

Wulf pushed Pete away from himself as the Peashooter's expression changed from a questioning one to an angry one. Pete glared at Wulf and asked.  
"What? Please tell me you didn't." Wulf turned from Pete and said quietly.  
"He's in the attic..." Pete cut Wulf off and said angrily.  
"You bought my son...into the small remains of Zomburbia...Wulf...words can't describe what I will do to you if I find my son dead." Pete quickly recoiled in shock at what he had said, something snapped inside him and his expression changed to sympathy as he said quietly. "Wulf, I didn't mean to say that...something, wierd took over my senses." Corinth looked up from his dead son's corpse and said in a voice coated in self-loathing.  
"I can explain that. Your mother was the real Lathyrus...I was, and I think still am, a Sativum." Wulf looked at Corinth with a glare that could scare even a chomper.  
Continuing to glare at the saddened Repeater, Wulf yelled in pure anger.  
"YOU COWARD! YOU'RE FAMILY ARE THE REASON I NEARLY DIED! YOU ALL DESERVE TO BE THROWN TO THE ZOMBIES!" Pete and Corinth looked taken aback by Wulf's anger. Corinth looked at Wulf and said quietly.  
"I...am sorry, I had no idea my...ex family caused so much discord and pain..." Wulf cut Corinth off as he yelled.  
"OF COURSE YOU'RE SORRY AFTER YOU MEET SOMEONE WHO CAN KILL YOU! AND DON'T DENY IT, YOU'RE STILL ONE OF THEM!" Corinth felt the anger in him building up and he let the Sativum side of him take control as he yelled.  
"IF YOU KILL ME, MY FAMILY WILL COME AND GET YOU BASTARD! DON'T UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF THE SATIVUM FAMILY!" Pete looked at his father and said angrily.  
"Dad, if I have to...I will stop you from harming anyone." Corinth simply laughed and said in a deranged voice.  
"Good luck! You're a bastard, you were an accident and..." Corinth paused for a few seconds before continuing . "...were always a failure to me and your mother..." Pete had cut Corinth off by punching him in the face in anger. Wulf grabbed Pete before he could beat his father to death and said.  
"PETE! Stop, think...remember, you're a Lathyrus, you help, protect, you aren't a Sativum." Wulf felt Pete stop resisting and start to cry. Wulf let the distraught Peashooter down and said "Pete, I'll go get your son...don't do anything drastic."

Corinth began to laugh at his son and said.  
"I always knew you were the weak one, you were never cut out to be a Peashooter, you should have been a wall-nut, at least then you could have done something with your pathetic life." Pete looked up at his father, fury in his dark brown eyes. His father simply laughed at him and continued his rant. "Don't look so surprised, you knew it all along, you were always a disappointment to us...What's the matter? You're just gonna cry? You aren't gonna say anything? You aren't even gonna fight back?" Pete continued to glare at his father before whispering.  
"Get, out of my sight...I don't want to hurt you..." Corinth stood up and walked over to his son, laughing all the way. When he reached his son, he stared right back into Pete's eyes and whispered.  
"Or what? If you don't want to hurt me, then you have no leverage against me." Pete grabbed his father by their throat and said menacingly.  
"I don't want to hurt you, doesn't mean I'm not going to." Corinth's expression didn't change, it was still a maniacal smile as he said.  
"Do it...prove to me you are my son, prove to me you're a Sativum and not a Lathyrus." Pete's grasp weakened and his father took advantage of his son's hesitation.  
Corinth shot his son twice, knocking Pete off of himself and onto their back. Corinth hopped on Pete and said.  
"This is why the oh so noble Lathyrus family is dying out, none of you fight back even if your lives are on the..."

Alison stepped through the portal that she hadn't used since the end of war. The purple gate remained open until the rest of her team were through. She looked around the area they had been teleported to, the sight she was presented with chilled her. The elaborate tombstone that was topped with the stone carving of a grieving Ice Pea got Alison's attention the most. She approached the tombstone and read the epitaph, what she read shocked her, it was the grave of Pete's mother. Joan approached Alison and said.  
"Look, we're about to head inside and have a look, you coming?" Alison stood up and nodded. The group of fire plants walked cautiously into the rotting house that stood at the end of the lawn. The sound of an argument alerted the group of fire plants who ran off towards the argument. Alison was first to reach the room where the argument was taking place, what she saw shocked her. Pete lay on his back, stunned while a maniacal looking Repeater laughed down at him but the most shocking sight was her son and wulf shackled into chairs at the end of the room, Wulf looking weaker than normal. Alison shot the Repeater until they collapsed, which shocked all the plants in the room. Alison rushed forward towards Pete while she asked James and Joan to unlock her son and Wulf. Alison helped Pete up, but quickly tackled him to the ground and yelled in anger.  
"YOU STUPID, STUPID BOY! YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW SICK WITH WORRY I'VE BEEN!" Almost immediately her expression and tone changed from anger to care as she pulled him into a hug and continued . "And I hope I never lose you again..."


	23. Chapter 23: A party at LEAF

Alison helped Pete to his roots and said softly.

"I don't care how much you think running off by yourself helps...but...taking the blow for us isn't what you should be doing." Pete looked at Alison with a look of slight anger and said.  
"So I shouldn't do what my heart tells me to? I should ignore my good side and let everyone else get hurt? Alison, that would kill me faster than taking the physical blow." Alison sighed and continued to say softly.  
"I didn't mean it like that...just, please, remember the promise you made me fourteen years ago...you promised not to leave me or die...I feel like that promise doesn't matter to you anymore." Pete kissed Alison lightly before saying as softly as he could.  
"Of course it matters to me...It's probably what's kept me alive for so long...I don't know where I would be without you." Alison smiled weakly and joked.  
"You wouldn't even exist...you would have withered away by now." Pete smiled back at Alison and went to kiss her again, but the audience that watched the two plants put them off. They stood back from each other and looked at the other plants awkwardly. Joan was first to break it.  
"I think we should be going...apparently the plants back at L.E.A.F HQ are throwing a party to celebrate the anniversary of when we broke the siege around the main mall." While the plants began to file out of the small, bare, concrete room, something strange ran through Pete's stem and he said.  
"I...need to do something first. Desmond and I think Alison, can you both come with me." Desmond and Alison simply nodded their heads and followed Pete into the graveyard towards the main tombstone that stood in the center. Pete grabbed a couple of flowers near the house, placed them at the base of the tombstone and said sadly.  
"H-Hey mum...You have n-no idea how much I miss you and h-how much I wish you could meet my girl plant and your grandson." Desmond stepped away from the tombstone and looked up to the statue of the Ice Pea, he realized that he would never meet his dad's parents and it made him feel bad for his dad. Alison stood beside Pete and whispered to the tearful Peashooter.  
"I...wish I had been able to meet her as well...she seems like she was a great plant." Pete pulled Alison into a hug and said.  
"I'm not going to let you suffer the same fate as her, I promise." Alison felt something inside her break and she said angrily.  
"NO! P-Please no. Pete, don't make a promise that drastic...I-I know how far you'll go to honour that promise." Pete frowned and said sadly.  
"Let's go. I don't really want to be here anymore." Alison grabbed Pete while Pete grabbed his son and the three plants walked together towards the other Fire Plants and Wulf. James grabbed a temporary portal canister, opened it and said.  
"See you all at L.E.A.F." With that, the Fire Pea jumped through the purple portal and was quickly followed by Joan, Elias and Wulf. After Wulf went through, the family of three stepped through together to be greeted by an eccentric looking Citrus Cactus who stammered in shock.  
"P-Pete...Lathyrus? I thought you were DEAD?!" Pete frowned and said sadly.  
"You're lack of trust in my abilities, it hurts." Pete quickly laughed at the distraught looking Citrus Cactus and said. "It's fine...I was the idiot who faked their death."

After talking with the Citrus Cactus, Pete, Alison and Desmond walked together into the large lobby at the heart of the large, metallic L.E.A.F Base. The family of three got a large shock as their really was a party going on. After a few seconds, someone yelled out in surprise.  
"PETE?! Hey Cole, come here." After a few seconds, a Commando Peashooter and Chomper burst out of the crowd, both plants with surprise imprinted on their faces and the Commando Peashooter said in complete shock.  
"P-Pete? It's been too long since we've been able to talk." Pete glared at the Commando Peashooter and said.  
"Look, Peter, we could have talked a few weeks ago..." The Commando Peashooter named Peter cut Pete off and said.  
"No we couldn't, Colin had me marked as a target...but I talked my way out of it...when I found out you were alive, I started to gain some hope that I could return to a normal life and not one restricted by Colin and his cronies." Pete looked at Peter in shock and said in surprise.  
"If I knew...I would have tried to help." Peter and Cole smiled at there old, Peashooter friend and Cole said.  
"Heh, I thought you knew we were tough enough to hold our own." Before Pete could reply, Vivian, Wulf and a familiar looking Berry Shooter came over to them and said.  
"Hey." Pete smiled at them and said.  
"Adrian! It's been far to long." Adrian simply smiled smugly and said.  
"It has. I've heard about all you accomplished during the old war, I'm impressed, so young and you've done so much." Pete smiled and said with a grin on his face.  
"Thank you Adrian, you accomplished more than me though, I was just doing my job." Adrian smiled and said.  
"You're too humble, take some pride in what you did." Alison pulled Pete away from the group of plants that had surrounded them and said quite happily.  
"See, I told you, what you do is beyond what's asked of you." Pete smiled back at Alison and pulled her into a hug. After a few seconds, someone lightly tapped Pete on the back of the stem so Pete and Alison broke their embrace and Pete turned to face the plant that had tapped him from behind. Pete stepped back from the hulking armour chomper that stood in front of him and asked.  
"Uh, yes?" The armour chomper's expression changed to one of realization and they said.  
"Uh yeah. It's Pete, right? My name is Ane, we meet about ten years ago at a meeting here." Pete looked at Ane with a look of thought before saying.  
"Uh yeah...I remember an Ane. But I'm sure last time we met, you were..." Ane cut Pete off and said.  
"A Classic Chomper? I was, but...A lot has happened and yeah...I mean you definitely know what it's like to deal with a life changing event." Ane was looking at Alison who was holding Desmond who looked like they were going to hyper into the crowd at any point. Pete went to speak but an explosion blew the front doors of the base open and a large number of plants yelled out in surprise.

In the hole stood a large group of zombies, the one at the front looked as eccentric as Zomboss. The scientist held a strange looking blaster and wore a large lab coat that was very well kept. The scientist at the front smiled deviously and said menacingly.  
"Are we late to the party?" As soon as the zombie finished his sentence, multi-coloured pellets flew into the large base, a large number of plants being felled quickly. While most plants began to fall back deeper into the base to find cover before fighting back, Ane looked around before charging towards the zombies. Pete looked at Alison and said.  
"Take yourself and Desmond deeper into the base and find cover...If I fall, don't come and get me." Pete kissed Alison quickly before hypering towards the group of zombies that were beginning to flood into the base. Pete dropped a Chili Bean Bomb into the horde and vanquished a large number of zombies as they were bottle-necked in the medium sized hole. Pete kept moving and shooting, he dodged the majority of the pellets, the adrenaline pumping through Pete numbing the pain and letting him stay in the fight. Pete looked around to see the scientist that was leading the group aiming a strange weapon at a Plasma Peashooter that Pete immediately recognized as Wulf. Pete, acting out of instinct, shot the weapon out of the hands of the scientist before they could shoot and said.  
"Not, my, friend." The scientist picked up the weapon and aimed it at Pete, but didn't pull the trigger. Pete hesitated for a second, which resulted in Pete being vanquished by the large amount of firepower the large number of foot soldiers could concentrate. Smiling deviously, the leader of the zombies said to a General Supremo beside him.  
"Cover my position, I need to go investigate the nuisance." The leader of the zombies shot Pete with the strange device and whispered to himself. "Sweet dreams you green pest. My uncle would be proud of me taking his inventions to the next level, to bring pain on one of his biggest pains." Before he could react, the leader of the zombies was knocked across the room towards the hole when he was tackled from behind by an armour chomper who looked unharmed by most of the shots fired at him. The leader of the zombies growled and yelled out.  
"SCREW YOU ANE! YOU RUINED MY UNCLE...NOW I WILL RUIN YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS!" The zombie changed his attention to a small Fire Pea that was hypering across the room, a short, thorn covered vine protruding from one of their right pod, and shot them with the weapon he held in his hand and yelled again. "DESMOND! TELL YOUR PITIFUL FATHER THAT MY UNCLE WILL GET HIS REVENGE!"

 _A/N: Hey, I'm not good at these so I'll get straight to the point...Sorry Pea if I made Ane ooc, I hope I didn't, but you can tell me if I need to change anything :p. And I recommend reading ThePeawithGoggles stories, I referenced her stories a few time throughout this chapter ;) Well anyway, I've got nothing else to say so...until next time, Ciao, See ya, A_ _uf Wiedersehen etc._


	24. Chapter 24: Trial by vases

Pete awoke in a dark forest that he had never seen before. Sitting up, he looked around the clearing he was in, the groans of the undead nearby, but hidden by the trees. Pete stood up and took a step towards the trees when a loud, booming sound echoed through the clearing out of nowhere. It was quickly followed by a deep,  
ominous voice that said.  
"Pete Lathyrus. You have been a thorn in my side for far too long. I have gifted my nephew my new laboratory to continue the war and bring about the fall of the plants that have made my life the hardest." Pete ignored the voice and stepped into the trees and only ten seconds in, something impaled Pete through the chest. The Peashooter collapsed onto the ground and he was engulfed in darkness. After a few seconds, Pete awoke to find himself leaning against a wall in a destroyed shop, a fire burning nearby, a deep cut running down his stem. Pete looked around in confusion and the ominous voice spoke out again.  
"Don't look so confused Pete. In this realm, if you die, you'll come back. So you'll die over, and over again till you escape...AND I KNOW YOU NEVER WILL!" When the ominous voice stopped, a deep, maniacal laugh echoed out and a Golf Star slammed it's way into the collapsing shop and smiled deviously. Pete only groaned and readied himself for the coming, rapid barrage of golf balls. Pete didn't yell out in pain as the Golf Star quickly felled him and Pete entered the darkness again. This time Pete awoke on a cold, stone floor in the middle of a large structure that he had never seen before. Once again the dark ominous voice spoke out and said.  
"I forgot to warn you...Every time you die in this realm, your physical body loses the will to resist the fluid that's keeping you here, so let's say you have lives,  
at the moment you've lost 2, on average...most plants have 5...you have...12...so you have 10 lives Pete...use them wisely." Pete stood up and growled at the disembodied voice and said.  
"What sought of sick game is this?!" The voice simply laughed back and said.  
"A game where your life, your sons life, Wulf's life and a few other plants lives on the line." Just as the voice finished, Vases of varying sizes fell from the ceiling and landed gracefully on the floor. The voice spoke again, this time in a more commanding tone. "To pass this level, you simply have to smash all these vases but remember, in each vase is a different thing. Perhaps a browncoat or a disco zombie. A plant or a bomb, you won't know till it's opened." Pete frowned and looked at the various vases, he didn't know where to begin. Pete settled to take smash open the vase that stood before him so he shot it. The vase smashed into pieces and Ane fell out. The armour chomper looked disorientated as he came to his senses and said.  
"What the...where am I?" Pete looked down at the confused Armour Chomper and said.  
"I don't know...the only thing I know is that we have to smash these vases for some strange reason." Ane got up and and said.  
"So...we just have to smash these vases?" Pete nodded and said.  
"Yeah, but there could be a lot of different things in these vases." Ane smiled at Pete and said.  
"I'm sure we can take it if it's bad." Ane turned around and started smashing open the vases. Nothing major came out, a few browncoats which quickly fell and a foot soldier that Ane quickly chomped. Pete looked around, most of the vases had been smashed by now and Ane had just broken open one of the outer ones when an imp fell out of it and swiftly vanquished Ane. Pete yelled out and hypered across the chamber, but despite the extra speed, Pete failed to reach the chomper in time and they disappeared. Pete stopped and looked around, confused while the sound of a warping scientist alerted Pete and he turned around, to find Ane in the middle of the chamber, not a trace of a wound visible and the ominous voice spoke out. "I thought I said that there would be varying objects and things in the vases...oh and they get more dangerous the further out you go...but that's also where you will find your friends. And Ane, don't get used to dying and respawning, in this realm, every death counts in the real world." The voice stopped talking and Pete turned back to breaking the vases at a faster rate, he didn't want Ane falling to another Imp or zombie. As Pete smashed them faster, he realized that smashing a lot of them at one time wasn't the best thing and Pete was quickly overwhelmed and vanquished by a group of eighteen buckethead browncoats. Pete spawned back in to find that Ane must have smashed the vase that contained Wulf who was felling the browncoats that had taken Pete out furiously, Wulf was avenging his friend. The ominous voice spoke out again.  
"Well look at all this chaos, isn't it fun?" Pete growled at the voice and yelled back.  
"YOU'RE SICK! OF COURSE IT ISN'T!" The voice simply laughed and Pete got shot at from the side. Pete looked in the direction from which the purple pellets had come from and vanquished the foot soldier that had fired them. Twenty seconds later, Pete fell forward, a strange feeling overcoming him, pain coursing through his body.  
Wulf ran over to Pete and helped Pete up, it seemed like Pete was going collapse if if got hit by even a rock. Just after Wulf helped Pete up, the ominous voice spoke out again.  
"Congratulations...you passed. Now you shall all take on your own trials and remember...the more you die...the closer you are to being really dead."


	25. Chapter 25: Some old friends

Before any of the three plants could react, they were being teleported to different rooms, each extremely different to the other. Pete looked around confused and disorientated, the room was like a place he hadn't seen in a very long time. Pete slowly approached a tree that hadn't changed since he had last seen it, the epitaph that was carved into the tree was still visible and readable. As Pete sat down next to the tree, a voice that had been haunting him for the past fourteen years spoke out from behind the rusting wreck of a destroyed, early model, Z-Mech.  
"You...get away from there...you don't know what happened..." Pete looked over at the wreck in surprise and wandered over to it, curiosity on his face and in his voice as he said.  
"I do...I was at the scene Ash fell and I'm the one who buried Elaine." Out of nowhere, a hulking Power Chomper came out from behind the wreck, jumped on the curious Peashooter and yelled.  
"HOW DO YOU KNOW MY NAME!? WHO ARE YOU!" Pete looked up at the open mouth of the Power Chomper, electricity sparking through the large mouth as Pete said.  
"Because I'm your friend. It's me...Pete." The Power Chomper looked down at the pinned Peashooter, growled and said angrily.  
"YOU! You coward! You're the reason I died! Now, I'm gonna kill you." Before Pete could react, the Power Chomper ripped out Pete's throat and left him to suffer for a minute until the Peashooter bleed out. Pete opened his eyes to find himself where he had started when he was first teleported into the room. Pete looked up to find the Power Chomper looking at him in shock, Pete growled and said.  
"What the heck Ash?!" The Power Chomper named Ash simply growled and nodded towards something behind Pete. Pete turned around to be confronted by a Metal Petal wielding a weapon that Pete had seen only once before hand. Pete hypered away from the Metal Petal towards a collapsing structure that was once a proud base, then a makeshift infirmary before being overrun years ago. The Metal Petal called out from the road.  
"What's the matter Pete? I thought you weren't a coward?" Pete growled and said back.  
"I can't hurt you, Elaine, I can't...nor can I hurt Ash...I would never harm a friend..." Ash and Elaine laughed after hearing Pete say that and Ash burrowed into the ground. Pete leaned against the wall he was using for cover when the ground in front of him burst open and Ash jumped out before him. Pete grabbed part of a wooden beam that lay on the ground next to him and used it to lock the Power Chomper's mouth open and said.  
"Ash, stop and think...let me explain what happened and let me try to make it up to you." The Power Chomper nodded his head hesitantly and let the Peashooter continue .  
"Ash, I never meant to hurt you, I mean, if I had the opportunity, it would be me that's six feet under instead of you." Ash growled and out of nowhere, a needle imbedded itself in Pete's stem, a severe burning sensation formed around where the needle had implanted itself and Pete couldn't help but yell in pain. Elaine's malicious smile began to fade as new memories of the Peashooter that she had just shot began to flood into her mind . She realized that Pete wasn't the murderer her original memories had made him out to be, instead they showed her his good side, the side she had forgotten. Elaine began to regret what she had done and ran as fast as she could to Pete who lay on the ground trying to suppress the pain. She grabbed a knife from a nearby by surgery bench and cut off the infected part of Pete's stem.  
Using the bandages that lay on the ground next to the injured Peashooter, Elaine quickly covered the large wound and said softly.  
"P-Pete, I'm so sorry...If I remembered who you really were...I-I wouldn't have done...this." Elaine gestured to the bandage that was quickly being soaked in the Peashooters blood. Pete smiled at her and said weakly.  
"It-it's not a problem..." Elaine said in a shocked voice.  
"Y-You aren't mad at me? After what I just put you through?" Pete stifled a laugh and said in his weak voice.  
"Of course not, I mean, friends forgive each other...right?" Elaine smiled back at the Peashooter and said.  
"Yes they do...don't they Ash?" Elaine pulled the broken beam out of Ash's mouth and Ash said.  
"Y-yes...they do...Look, Pete, I'm sorry...I think I remember who you really are now..." Before Ash could finish his sentence, the world for Pete began to dissolve and he was being dragged to another room...

* * *

 _Somewhere at the edge of Suburbia..._

* * *

The Power Chomper awoke next to a worried looking Metal Petal. When the Metal Petal noticed the Power Chomper was alright, she sighed in relief and said.  
"Oh thank Dave you're alright Ash, I was getting worried." Ash smiled at the Metal Petal and said.  
"Heh...of course I'm fine . Hey Elaine...I had this weird dream, you were in it...Pete was in it..." Elaine gasped in shock and said in surprise.  
"I had a similar dream...Did you forgive Pete?" Ash looked just as shocked as her as he said.  
"Y-Yeah...what does it mean?"

* * *

 _Back in the dream realm..._

* * *

Pete felt like he was falling, he had no idea where or how fast, but all he knew was that he was falling. After a few minutes Pete slammed onto, what he assumed, was the floor, hard. Slowly pushing himself up, Pete looked around the plastic room he was trapped in. A yell from behind Pete shocked him and he turned around to find his son in the grips of the zombie that lead the assault against L.E.A.F. Pete hypered towards his son, to be stopped by a plastic pane that wouldn't break. Pete growled and said angrily.  
"Let him go you undead, rotting bastard." The zombie laughed and said.  
"Or what? You can't get at me...Of course where are manners? My name is Harryton...I believe you know my uncle." Pete continued to growl at the zombie and said.  
"I'll destroy you...let's just skip the formalities and fight already." Harryton simply laughed and said.  
"Tsk, I thought you already knew the pain of fighting." Before Pete could react, he was being thrown across the room he was trapped in and felt a spike impale itself through his stem. Pete looked at the injury and shrugged it off, he could afford to die a few times, but his son appeared to be distressed as he yelled.  
"DAD! NO! P-PLEASE LEAVE HIM ALONE!" Harryton laughed harder and slapped the Fire Pea that he held by the neck. Desmond whimpered and Pete pushed himself off the spike,  
a large hole ran through his chest. Pete ignored the hole and threw himself against the walls of the room that contained him till they shattered. Harryton stumbled away from the bloody Peashooter and finished him off with the fire blasting shotgun of a Paleontologist. Pete felt himself enter the dark again, this time he awoke in a room that he hadn't seen for over 12 years, and one that brought to him some of the most painful memories.


	26. Chapter 26: The loss of an old friend

Pete looked around the restaurant, Alison sat opposite him, a wide smile across her face, a glass of water in her equivalent of a hand. Her smile changed to a worried expression as she said.  
"Pete, what's the matter? Are you feeling ill?" Pete shock his head and asked.  
"W-What's the date?" Alison looked even more confused as she said.  
"May 5th...I thought you would remember the date of our anniversary..and the date the war started." Pete frowned and said.  
"O-Ok...thanks Alison. Where's Desmond?" Alison looked worried as she said sadly.  
"Desmond...hasn't been alive for thirteen years Pete...I can't believe you can't remember that YOUR OWN SON IS DEAD!" Alison stood up and slapped the confused Peashooter as she continued to yell. "WHAT'S UP WITH YOU!" Pete frowned harder and said in a confused voice.  
"I-I...don't know...Alison...how long has it been since when you saved my life first." Alison sat down and calmed down as she said.  
"Twenty seven years..." Pete fell out of the chair he was in and stammered.  
"T-Twenty seven?! W-What's going on...I'm only thirty...n-not forty-three!" Alison looked at the panicking Peashooter and said in a confused voice.  
"I think we need to get you out of here..." Out of nowhere, something caused Pete to black out and he awoke in a chamber that appeared to be more of a hallway than anything else.

Pete looked around to find Ane and Wulf with him. The two plants appeared to be discussing something. As Pete got closer, he realised that the Armour Chomper and Plasma Pea were arguing over something. While if the argument did go south, Pete personally knew the danger of facing an enraged chomper, he was willing to die multiple times to protect either Ane or Wulf from the other plant. As soon as Pete had finished approaching the plants, they stopped arguing and greeted him. Pete smiled weakly at the two plants and went to ask them a question when Wulf's expression went blank and he started to growl. Pete frowned at Wulf and very soon Ane was also growling. Pete began to step back from the two plants but as soon as he did, Ane lunged at him. While Pete managed to dodge the Armour Chomper's deadly teeth, he wasn't able to dodge Ane entirely and Pete was knocked onto his back. Pete pushed himself up, only to be quickly vanquished by Wulf who was rooted into the floor and in gatling mode. Pete gasped as he awoke in the same chamber, Wulf had unrooted while Ane was nowhere to be seen, a bad sign for Pete who hypered away from Wulf and kept his eyes open for Ane. Despite the extra speed, Wulf was able to keep up and he shot Pete in the back a few times. Pete growled but resisted the urge to fight back, he wasn't going to harm Wulf. After being chased for over a minute, Pete ran into something solid, but was definitely not a wall. Looking up, Pete gasped as a power pole crushed him, pain beginning to course it's way through him.

The Gargantuar picked up the injured Peashooter and the blank expression Plasma Pea. Wulf stopped growling and snapped back to his senses, he nearly gasped in shock at the fact he was in the grasps of a Gargantuar. Out of nowhere, Harryton teleported atop the Gargantuar, he had a condescending smile as he said.  
"So, Pete, enjoying the chambers so far?" The Peashooter growled at the scientist, that sat atop the Gargantuar smugly, and said sarcastically.  
"Haven't felt any better." Harryton continued to smile as he said.  
"Well, I'm here to offer you a deal...kill the other two and walk out of here...or die for good, and the other two go free." Pete growled at Harryton and said proudly.  
"NEITHER! I won't go without a fight...and I won't let you harm them!" Harryton growled and said angrily.  
"Now you don't get a choice ...Kill them all...once and for all." With that, Harryton teleported out of the room and Wulf disappeared. Pete began to growl as the Gargantuar began to tighten it's grip on him. Pete began to think to himself.  
'So this is the end? Being crushed by a Gargantuar...NO! Don't think like that...You need to get out of here and save the other two.'

As the Gargantuar tightened their grip, Pete expected to feel the life being drained from him but instead, he felt all the more alive. As he blacked out, he awoke in a different chamber, a strange sensation running through him, it was as if the chamber was an extension of himself. A strange feeling ran through the chamber so Pete went to hyper towards it but instead he was teleported in front of the source of the feeling. Pete looked up to find Wulf on the verge of death so Pete began to feed the energy that flowed through him into the weakened Plasma Pea and brought him back to full health. Wulf looked at Pete in shock and thanked him. Pete smiled at his friend and asked.  
"Where's Ane?" Wulf frowned and said.  
"G-Gone...I think he's already back in his body." Pete smiled and said.  
"Well that's good...look, I wish you luck in life..." Before Wulf could ask anything, he was awake...properly awake, Vivian leaning over him as he lay on a bed in the L.E.A.F infirmary.

Pete smiled to himself and focused his energy into finding the last entity that had a presence in the dream realm he was trapped in, Harryton's. As soon as he found it, he teleported right in front of the angry looking zombie who said in shock.  
"W-What...H-How did you survive?!" Pete growled at Harryton and said in an intimidating voice.  
"It doesn't matter...your death is all that matters." Harryton laughed menacingly and said in a voice that sounded almost daemonic.  
"IT DOES MATTER YOU IDIOT! Remember, this is still MY realm...I can kill you right now without lifting a hand..." As soon as Harryton said that, Pete felt the life drain out of him and he collapsed...

* * *

 _In the L.E.A.F infirmary..._

* * *

Alison quickly looked up from the body of the boy plant she hoped to be with till they both withered away, he had just spasmed, but this time, he stopped as quickly as he had started. Alison looked worried as she looked for a pulse but she couldn't find one, Pete's heart had stopped. Alison began to cry as she said sadly.  
"N-No...Why has his heart stopped?! Oh please no...p-please no..." The Cactus that had been talking with the Armour Chomper walked over to Alison and said softly.  
"I'm sorry..." Alison pushed the Cactus away and said angrily.  
"Please...Just, leave me alone." Wulf hopped out of the bed he was in, approached Alison and said sadly.  
"H-Hey...Alison. If he is dead...he died to save me and he would have died to save Ane if he had to..." Alison yelled at the plants that had gathered around her, tears falling from her light blue eyes.  
"I ASKED YOU TO LEAVE ME ALONE! HE...H-He...was my best friend...m-more than a friend...he..." Alison couldn't carry on, the tears that usually evaporated from her face after a few seconds fell onto the corpse of the Peashooter that she had never got to tell how she truly felt about them.


	27. Chapter 27: A new player

Wulf looked at Alison, a sad look on his face, she reminded him of Vivian a few years ago. Not wanting Alison to suffer a similar fate to Vivian and himself, Wulf grabbed the weapon that he assumed, made him, Ane and Pete enter the dream realm, and walked into the hallway. Wulf shot himself with the weapon and he began to feel drowsy. A few seconds later, Wulf blacked out and he felt like he was falling. When Wulf didn't come back into the infirmary after a few minutes, Vivian walked out into the hallway and nearly screamed at the sight she was presented with. Wulf lay on the floor, unmoving, the weapon that had caused Wulf, Ane and Pete to pass from their world into the dream realm, lay in his pod. Vivian ran over to Wulf, carried him back into the infirmary and lay him back in his bed.

* * *

 _In the dream realm..._

* * *

Wulf hit the solid stone floor with a thud. Looking around, Wulf found himself in the last chamber he was trapped in, the sound of gunfire and yelps of pain coming from the far side of the large chamber. Wulf hypered across to find Pete covered in so many cuts and lacerations, it was a miracle he was still standing. In front of Pete stood a machine that put the last model of Zomboss' Zombots to shame. Inside the glass canopy at the top of the machine sat the zombie that had lead the assault on L.E.A.F that day. The machine tried to stomp Pete but the bloodied Peashooter jumped out of the way and hypered onto the foot of the machine that had just tried to crush him. Wulf hypered out from behind his cover and joined Pete on the foot of the machine. Pete didn't notice Wulf as he continued to scale the large machine. Wulf shook his head and followed the Peashooter as they ascended the robot's upper body. Just as Pete was about to reach the neck of the robot, a smaller Z-Mech operated by an Imp that looked like it had come from space dropped down onto the same shoulder Pete was on. A blade that appeared to be made of pure light and shaped like a cone,  
protruded from one of the Z-Mech's black, metal fist. Before Wulf could reach the two adversaries, the Z-Mech swung the blade at Pete. Despite looking like he was about to collapse, Pete easily dodged the blade and continued to make his way up the side of the robots head. Just as Wulf made it up onto the shoulder that the Z-Mech wasn't on, the sound of gunshots broke out from the other shoulder and the sound of a plant thumping against steel rang out. Concerned, Wulf hypered to the other shoulder to find Pete laying on the shoulder at the base of the neck, the Peashooter struggling to push himself up. The Imp that operated the Z-Mech laughed and using the steel foot of their Z-Mech, pinned Pete to the shoulder and said menacingly.  
"You were so close...but now, you'll be gone for good." Wulf jumped at the Z-Mech to try and distract the Imp, but he passed straight through the Z-Mech, a confused look forming on his face. Just as Wulf turned around, the sound of the blade entering Pete's stem sounded out, the blood covered Peashooter refusing to yell out as the blade dug deeper and deeper into them. A hissing sound came from above and the glass canopy opened up. The zombie that had led the assault against L.E.A.F came out and teleported down next to Pete and said quietly.  
"I'm giving you one last chance...work for me, and I will spare your pitiful life..." Despite the blade that was embedded inside himself, Pete shot the zombie and said angrily.  
"You're a fool Harryton. My death will only embolden my friends and..." Pete gasped, something had stopped him from finishing his sentence. Wulf also gasped, something grabbed him and he felt himself being dragged into the scene he had just witnessed. Harryton looked up and smiled at Wulf menacingly and said.  
"Wulf Arvense, come to watch the last few seconds of this useless plant's life?" Wulf growled at the zombie and hypered at the Z-Mech, using the extra speed to jump on to the back of it before the Imp could react. Below him, Wulf could hear the Imp growling as they commanded the Z-Mech to pull the light blade out of Pete and try to slice Wulf. As the blade came down to kill Wulf, the Plasma Pea jumped off the Z-Mech and let the blade pass through the steel armour of the mech and knock it out of action. The Imp ejected out of the Z-Mech which fell off the shoulder of the giant robot they stood on. Pete coughed up some blood and looked around, a huge weight was suddenly removed from him as he spotted the Imp coming down towards the shoulder. Pete continued to look around, despite knowing he should be dead, he continued to look around, he remembered Harryton mentioning Wulf. As soon as Pete noticed Wulf, the world blacked out, something had hit him in the back of the head.

* * *

 _Outside L.E.A.F HQ..._

* * *

The Power Chomper and Metal Petal approached the giant metal structure that only the Metal Petal had ever seen. As they slowly approached it, they were approached by a Commando Peashooter, one that neither of them had seen since they had died, and they said.  
"Halt. What's your business here?" The two plants realized that there had only just recently been a battle, the ground was covered in pea stains, spikes, burn marks and all other kinds of signs that there had been a large fight. The Metal Petal smiled and said honestly.  
"We are here to see an old friend. We got news they were injured in the fighting and we wanted to make sure they were fine." The Commando Peashooter looked at the two of them, a look of extreme thought on his face and he asked.  
"Do I, know either of you?" Both plants immediately shook their heads and the Commando Peashooter continued. "Alright then...You both can go through...Just, be careful Elaine, I don't know if anyone else will recognize you but, watch out for her Ash." The Commando Peashooter ran off to a different part of the rudimentary cover the plants had put up after they fought off the zombie assault. Elaine and Ash looked at eachother in shock before approaching the large metallic base, a large hole where the doors appeared to have been. When they entered the large lobby, the signs of battle were prevalent, it seemed this was where the majority of the fighting had been.

After entering the lobby, they were approached by a Fire Cactus who asked.  
"Why are you two here?" Ash said calmly to the Fire Cactus.  
"We are here to see an old friend. We believe he is in the infirmary." The Fire Cactus looked skeptical and asked.  
"And who is this old friend?" Elaine answered this time.  
"Pete, Lathyrus, we believe he's here." The Fire Cactus nodded and signalled the two plants to follow him. Halfway to the infirmary, the Fire Cactus said sadly.  
"I have some...regrettable news, Pete's been reported as...dead, he died last night. In here." The Fire Cactus signalled them into a room that was marked as the Infirmary before walking off to continue their duties. Ash and Elaine walked into the large infirmary that was bustling, apart from a small section that was being avoided. The two plants walked over to it to find Pete and Wulf laying on separate beds, as well as a distraught looking Alison and Alien Flower.

Alison looked up from the corpse of the plant she had tried so hard to bring back from a realm that Ane, an Armour Chomper who was trapped in the realm with Pete, had called the dream realm. She immediately stepped back in shock, she thought she was seeing ghosts as the Power Chomper said.  
"A-Alison...are we too late?" Alison nodded hesitantly and said in shock.  
"A-Ash? E-Elaine? Are you two...a-alive?" The Metal Petal and Power Chomper nodded at Alison who smiled, tears forming in her eyes. Elaine approached Pete's body, gasped and said sadly.  
"H-He...really is dead..." Alison sighed and said softly.  
"He's trapped in some kind of dream realm apparently..." Ash immediately cut Alison off and asked.  
"How do I get there?" Alison sighed again and said sadly.  
"There's only one way...even then, it's not a guaranteed return trip." Ash walked over to Alison and said happily.  
"Fine then...send me in after him."


	28. Chapter 28: Insert Title

Wulf growled at Harryton, the zombie had kicked Pete in the back of the head, which knocked out the exhausted Peashooter. Before Wulf could reach his downed friend,  
Harryton grabbed Pete and threw him off the shoulder they stood on. Wulf growled and nearly yelled out before lunging at the zombie that stood smugly in front of him.  
Halfway through the lunge, Harryton teleported behind Wulf and grabbed the enraged Plasma Peashooter from behind. Wulf gasped in shock as a rotting hand wrapped itself around his throat. Harryton held Wulf over the edge of the shoulder, the massive drop seeming more intimidating than any other fall, and said menacingly.  
"While you plants don't have anything to break by falling from this height. What if the fall could actually knock you out..." As soon as Harryton finished speaking, he released Wulf and teleported back into the commanders seat of the giant robot. Wulf fell for half a minute, he didn't care, he believed he would survive the fall like any other plant or zombie in that case. But when Wulf hit the floor, the unexpected happen, he managed to feel the pain of slamming onto the solid stone floor and blacked out. Harryton laughed from the top of the machine, all he had to do was step forward and crush the two Peashooters which would kill them, for good.

Ash felt a needle enter his stem before he quickly blacked out. He awoke in a large room that appeared to be desolate, the sound of gunfire and an argument ringing out from the far side of the room. Ash ran towards the argument and found a sight that made him angry, Pete lay on the ground, unconscious and in a pool of his own blood while next to him lay Wulf, uninjured but unconscious. Ash ran towards his two fallen friends when a large foot appeared out of nowhere, it was going to crush the three of them. Ash grabbed Pete and Wulf in his mouth and carried them out of the way of the robots path. Only a few seconds after getting out of the way of the robot, the foot hit the ground. Ash dropped his two friends and revived them, both had looks of shock on their faces when they spotted the Power Chomper that had just saved them. Before any of the three plants could ask questions, they were being bombarded by a mix of zombie projectiles, explosive rugby balls, pellets whose colours varied across the many colours of the rainbow, and even spheres of electricity. The three plants split up, Ash burrowing into the ground, Pete and Wulf hypering in seperate directions. Even splitting up, Wulf and Pete were hit by many of the projectiles while Ash tried to get into the machine by trying to bite through the metal armour. Ash gave up trying to bite through the armour and tried to climb the machine, but he was unable to. Pete and Wulf closed the distance with the robot and hopped onto the large feet of the robot. Wulf fell back behind some cover and waited for an opportunity to strike.

Despite the blood loss and injuries, Pete was determined to make it back to his body, even if it meant he would have to fight off ten hordes of zombies and gargantuars.  
Wulf watched from the foot he was on as Pete climbed the machine rapidly, so Wulf began to ascend it as well. Just as Pete made it to the waist of the machine, ten Foot Soldiers appeared out of nowhere, they weren't armed with the assault blaster that most Foot Soldiers were armed with, they were armed with a plethora of melee weapons that ranged from swords to knives and even a pole. Pete growled as he was knocked onto his back by a baton wielding soldier, something inside him telling him to let his instincts take over.

Wulf reached the waist, but it seemed the soldiers were too occupied dealing with Pete to notice him. Wulf went to vanquish some of the soldiers, but the site of Pete making quick work of the soldiers told him to keep going. Wulf was back on the shoulder of the robot so he looked down to see how Pete and Ash were going. Wulf expected Pete to still be on the belt around the waist of the robot, but instead he was on the ground being assaulted by a large number of browncoats. Another shocking sight that Wulf was presented with was that Pete and Ash were back to back, both plants keeping each other alive, but they were clearly going to lose, there were just too many browncoats. Despite wanting to intervene, Wulf knew that he wouldn't make it to them in time so he continued to the top, he had a plan that he hoped would save himself and his friends.

Pete had his back against Ash's as the two plants fought for survival against the horde of browncoats that encircled them. Ash using the electricity he could spray from his large mouth, Pete using a mix of peas and an ability that he never knew he had. Pete swung the short, thorn covered vine that protruded from his right pod against a buckethead browncoat while shooting the head of another off. Ash shocked a large group of browncoats, but they were immediately replaced, both plants began to feel the drain on their health as they took more and more hits, the browncoats were overwhelming them. After a few minutes, Ash felt the Peashooter behind him go limp, Pete finally succumbed to the blows, and Ash knew he wasn't far from it either.

Wulf watched in shock as Pete went limp after being slammed with a screen door, Ash quickly falling as well, the browncoats yelled in celebration. Wulf looked into the eyes of Harryton, the zombie would pay for what he had just caused. Harryton smirked at Wulf who ignored the arrogant zombie and successfully tackled them, the smirk quickly fading from their face. Wulf began beating the zombie with a pole that had fallen from the roof of the robot's head. Harryton pushed Wulf off of himself easily and teleported out of the robot. Wulf growled and began pushing buttons until a portal opened in the robot's head. Wulf smiled and hit the self-destruct button, he didn't know what had prompted him to do it, but he immediately thought of his Leguminosae cousin. Wulf hypered through the portal to find himself in the infirmary, a look of relief on Vivian's face when she noticed him, looks of anguish on Elaine and Alison's faces when they noticed him.

After a few minutes, Wulf began to frown, Ash and Pete should have come back by now, the plan he had come up with seemed like it should have worked. Alison sat beside Pete's bed when a pair of sunflowers and a small Fire Pea entered their section of the infirmary. Alison smiled weakly at her son and parents before saying hysterically.  
"I failed him...I failed myself...Well since you're here, mum, dad, this is Pete." Lou and Petunia looked at each other with looks of worry before Lou said.  
"Well, seems like he died a Lathyrus death...When are they burying him?" Alison cried in anguish and said sadly.  
"I guess...he died a fool's death, why didn't he just...let Wulf get shot...he would be here if he had." Before any plant could reply to Alison's statement, Ash groaned and said weakly.  
"W-Where am I?" Elaine jumped up in joy and hugged the Power Chomper that still lay in the bed and said.  
"Thank goodness you're alright...what happened?" Ash frowned and said in confusion.  
"I don't know...all I remember is darkness, Wulf...and...uh...a blood covered Peashooter..." As soon as Ash said 'blood covered Peashooter', Alison cried out in anguish, until something rubbed her back and a voice said softly but weakly.  
"H-Hey...don't cry...if you feel bad, it makes me feel worse." Alison looked down at the bed Pete lay in, she screamed in joy and pulled the Peashooter into a hug, Pete groaned and continued . "H-Hey Alison...you're gonna crush what little's left in me out." Alison loosened her grip but continued to hug Pete, who returned the gesture.  
From behind Alison, Desmond yelled out.  
"DAD! YOU'RE ALIVE! Oh thank Dave." Pete looked over Alison to see his son and two sunflowers he had never seen. The Sunflowers must have sensed his confusion and the female one said.  
"I'm Petunia, I'm Alison's mother and this..." Petunia gestured to the sunflower that stood beside her and continued . "Is Lou...He's Alison's father." Pete looked at the two sunflowers before saying weakly.  
"It's nice to meet you both...I'm sorry but you can't meet my parents...my mother died protecting my brother and my father is a traitor." Pete spoke of his father in a disgusted tone. Lou replied kindly.  
"It's fine...So, my daughter is going to be partnered to a Lathyrus?" Alison and Pete stopped hugging and Alison said to her father.  
"Well...I was hoping that answer would be yes." Alison turned to Pete and continued. "I...when you feel better...would like to know, if, you wanted to go out to this nice little restaurant down in southern suburbia?" Pete smiled at Alison and said happily.  
"Of course! How could I miss that kind of opportunity." Alison smiled back at Pete and before anyone knew what was happening, Pete and Alison were kissing.


	29. Chapter 29: A story of suffering

Pete, Wulf and Ash spent a few days recovering in the L.E.A.F Infirmary, the three plants getting a multitude of guests, some family, some friends and some just to listen to what they went through. On the third day, Alison, Vivian, Elaine, Desmond, Lou and Petunia walked into the infirmary and Alison said.  
"Pete...I hope you don't mind me inviting everyone...my parents wanted to talk to you and then Elaine wanted to know if she and Ash could come so I invited Vivian and Wulf." Pete smiled at her and said.  
"Of course it's fine...the more the merrier, right?" There was a collective cheer that resulted in the group of plants being given strange looks from the other plants in the infirmary. Pete, Ash and Wulf hopped out of their beds and set off to join their respective sunflowers. The group left the infirmary and entered the portal room,  
the eccentric Citrus Cactus that operated the portal asked.  
"Where to?" Alison smiled at them and said.  
"The Three Sisters restaurant please." The Citrus Cactus smiled slightly before calibrating the portal device to teleport the strange group of plants to the Three Sisters restaurant in southern suburbia.

Pete, Alison, Desmond, Wulf, Vivian, Ash, Elaine, Lou and Petunia stood as a group outside the restaurant, the old, overgrown building that served as a restaurant hadn't changed in twelve years. The group of plants walked into the restaurant where an optimistic Power Cactus greeted them in their unique, Russian accent and asked.  
"So, table for nine?" Alison nodded and the Power Cactus lead the group of nine to a table that overlooked the large garden, which was more like a park, that grew beside the restaurant. All the plants but Pete sat down, he was about to when a scarred Fire Pea grabbed his arm and asked softly.  
"Do I know you?" Pete shook his head and said.  
"I don't know if I know you...but the name's Pete, Lathyrus." The Fire Pea stepped back in shock and said.  
"P-Pete...are you the son of Elaine and Corinth Lathyrus?" Pete stepped back in shock this time and stammered.  
"Y-Yes...How do you know?" The Fire Pea sighed and said quietly.  
"We're cousins...Our mums are twins...how is aunt Elaine anyway?" Pete sighed and said sadly.  
"D-Dead...she died to save my brother." The Fire Pea looked at Pete in shock and said sadly.  
"I-I'm sorry...no wonder mum was worried sick...Pete, come with me, you need to meet your aunt, she's been dying to see if you're alright." Pete nodded at the Fire Pea hesitantly and said.  
"Why don't I remember you...if you are my cousin." The Fire Pea face palmed and said with embarrassment in his voice.  
"Heh, I forgot my manners. The name is Ambrose Lathyrus and you probably can't remember me because you were only a sapling when I last saw you." Pete nodded slowly and let Ambrose lead him over to a table at the far side of the restaurant. At the table sat a Law Pea who appeared to be busy playing with an arrow that was stuck through the hat next to them and an Ice Pea that looked extremely familiar to Pete's mum. The Ice Pea looked up at her son, Ambrose, and said.  
"I told you...I'm not getting into another relationship." Ambrose shook his head and said proudly."  
"Mum, this isn't any old Peashooter...it's your nephew, Pete." The Ice Pea looked at her son and Pete in shock before managing to stammer.  
"P-Pete...I-Is it you? H-How's my sister?" Pete looked at the Ice Pea before him, she had tears in her eyes as Pete said sadly.  
"Y-Yes...Aunty...M-Mum...is dead..." The Ice Pea bent over and said in shock.  
"No, she can't be...sh-she, how?" Pete patted the back of his distressed aunt and said sadly.  
"She didn't die in vain, she died protecting me and my brother." Ambrose said after hearing Pete mention his brother.  
"How is cousin Jack anyway?" Pete looked at Ambrose and said sadly.  
"Dead as well...he died the same way." Before either plant could continue , the distressed Ice Pea whispered.  
"It's all my fault...I should never have left home...why did I fall in love with that..." Ambrose cut his mother off and said.  
"No, mum, it's not your fault...none of us could have predicted this and you wouldn't have lived with yourself if dad had died..." The Ice Pea nearly yelled out.  
"But he is dead! My twin sister, my nephew, my partner...my child...all lost because I couldn't protect them..." Pete signalled Ambrose to not say anything and said himself.  
"Hey Aunty, it's not your fault...we couldn't have predicted these deaths...I know it's in us to feel at fault when someone we care about dies or gets hurt, we feel bad and as if we failed them, ourselves. But we need to remember, we aren't always the one at fault...even if our bodies scream that we were." The Ice Pea wiped the crystallized tears away before looking up at her nephew and saying.  
"Thank you Pete...it means a lot to me...Please promise me that you won't die...there are only four of our family left." Pete looked at her and asked.  
"Four?!" Pete's Aunty looked down and said sadly.  
"There is myself, you, Ambrose and Orlan left." Pete smiled and said happily.  
"Make that five, you forgot my son, Desmond." Ambrose looked at Pete in shock and said.  
"You have a son?! Pete, you're more successful at life than me...and I'm older than you!" Pete blushed and said uneasily.  
"I'm just...lucky...Hey, come with me, you can meet my family and friends." Pete helped up his aunty who signalled the Law Pea and Fire Pea to follow them.

When Pete approached the table his family and friends were sitting at, he introduced the remainder of his family. Pete went around the table and introduced each plant individually. After introducing them, Pete introduced the latest members of his family to the plants around the table.  
"Well uh, the Ice Pea is my Aunty, the Fire Pea is Ambrose and the Law Pea is Orlan." There was a mix of ah's and hello's from around the table. Pete sat down and invited his family members to sit with them, so they did and Orlan said.  
"The last time I remember being at a table with so many plants was when we had our last family reunion..." Ambrose sighed and said sadly.  
"Brother, that was over twenty years ago...and the day our family was nearly wiped from suburbia." There were a few gasps from around the table and Pete couldn't help but ask.  
"What do you mean our family was nearly wiped from suburbia...how?" Orlan and Ambrose growled while Pete's aunt cried softly. When the two brothers calmed, Orlan said angrily.  
"Of all plants, you should know the danger of the Sativum family...the traitors...nearly destroyed our family. They cowards attacked at the reunion, they attacked us whenever they got the opportunity, they would take us down one by one..." Ambrose picked up the story and continued .  
"And they never fought fair...One Lathyrus standing up to browncoats and at least six of the bastard traitors..." Orlan came back in and continued from where Ambrose left it.  
"Or of course, our greatest trait...They used our defining trait against us...making us give our lives to save others..." This time, Pete's Aunt continued the story.  
"And so...our family has been slowly killed off by the Sativum...they see us all as the greatest threat to their survival..." Orlan came back in and finished the story.  
"And we fought back of course...but we never killed any of them... we were all to bound by our morals to harm them badly..." Pete stared at the three plants in shock and stammered.  
"B-But...w-what...how many of us died in this..." Orlan frowned and said sadly.  
"Of the one hundred and twelve of us who were alive at the beginning of the war...only eighty were killed on the front lines, the rest, murdered by the Sativum." Pete growled loudly and said.  
"Why does no one else know of this?" Ambrose said painfully.  
"If any of the Sativum family find out...they will hunt us down and finish the job they started years ago."


	30. Chapter 30: The story of a Calamity

**A/N: Something different. This is a mix of First and Third Person so yeah...I hope you enjoy.**

* * *

 _Calamity's POV_

* * *

I limped beside the sunflower that had saved my life on more than one occasion, she looked terrible so I said.  
"Hey...I know a restaurant near here. You wanna go get a bite to eat." Ali looked at me and said sadly.  
"We don't have anything. How are we gonna get something to eat?" I smiled slightly and said.  
"I know the owners, they're friends with the lady who ran the orphanage I was in." Ali looked at me in shock and asked.  
"Y-You're an orphan? How?" I sighed and said bitterly.  
"It's a long story...I'll tell you at the restaurant." Ali looked away from me and said softly.  
"You don't have to if you don't want to...I was just curious." I wrapped my arm around her stem and we walked in silence till we got to the restraunt, which took us forty minutes to get to. I opened the door into the restaurant and the Power Cactus asked in her unique, Russian accent.  
"So table for two?" I smiled at her and said.  
"Yes please Spike." The Power Cactus named Spike looked at me and said.  
"Calamity. Is that you?" I continued to smile at her and asked.  
"Yes it is Spike. Can I ask a favour of you?" Spike looked me in the eyes and said quietly.  
"I'll bring you your usual...and what should I get the young lady?" Ali frowned and said.  
"Anything please...just not too much." Spike laughed at Ali and said.  
"Look, a friend of Calamity is a friend of myself. I'll just bring you our special." I grabbed Ali and we followed Spike to a table next to one that was surrounded by a large number of plants. Ali looked past me and at the table next to ours before she asked.  
"So...is it alright if I ask how you became an orphan?" I sighed and said.  
"Yes, it's fine...It started not long after I was born..."

* * *

 _Flashback 13 years..._

* * *

"BRING ME THAT BLOODY SPROUT! I'M GONNA KILL HIM...Just like he did his mother..." One of the sunflowers held the enraged Repeater back and said.  
"Calm down...it was always going to be painful for her..." The Repeater punched the doctor and yelled.  
"PAINFUL!? I WILL SHOW YOU PAIN!" Before the Repeater could hit the doctor again, a Peashooter grabbed them from behind and said.  
"Hey, leave him alone. He didn't do anything." The Repeater simply growled at the plant that had just grabbed them, a surge of anger ran through them as they thought.  
'How dare they touch me?'. The Repeater turned around and started punching the Peashooter who only blocked the attacks. Every time the Repeater punched the other plant,  
they felt the anger in them slowly turn to discontent and eventually sadness as they finally stopped attacking the other plant and collapsed onto the floor in tears.  
The doctor walked over to the bleeding Peashooter and said.  
"Thank you. Let me cover these wounds..." The Peashooter shook their head and said.  
"No need to, just doing the right thing." And with that, the Peashooter walked into one of the private rooms. The sunflower doctor turned around and helped the Repeater up before saying.  
"Come, you have to name your son." The Repeater let the doctor guide him to one of the rooms, a small sprout lay on the bed next to the corpse of their mother, a cactus.  
As soon as the Repeater saw their son they said.  
"This is a calamity...wait...calamity...yes. Doctor, I wish to name this...bastard Calamity." The doctor looked at the Repeater apprehensively, they wanted to say yes to appease the Repeater but at the same time they questioned whether it was the right thing to do or not. Without the Peashooter in the room, the doctor was afraid of the repeater getting angry again so he wrote down Calamity on the birth certificate under first name. The Repeater smiled deviously and grabbed their son and the birth certificate. The Repeater walked out of the hospital and placed their son in a basket before writing a note that he put in the basket. The Repeater carried the basket to an orphanage near the hospital and left the basket out the front for the owner to find.

* * *

 _Flash forward Eight years._

* * *

"Calamity, please come down stairs and present yourself. Who knows, we might get lucky this time..." Calamity looked into the eyes of the old Sun Pharaoh and said sadly.  
"Let's face it Madame Seville...no one wants to adopt a plain old Peashooter...even if they're advanced..." The old Sun Pharaoh pulled the young Peashooter into a hug and said.  
"Don't think like that, come on, this time we will find you a family." Calamity sighed and followed Madam Seville down into the large room where orphans could meet plants that were considering adoption and vice-versa. Just as Calamity walked in, a Law Pea said.  
"Madame Seville, who is this?" Calamity looked at the Law Pea in shock and Madame Seville said.  
"This is Calamity. Come on, don't be shy." Calamity stepped out from behind the Sun Pharaoh and waved at the Law Pea who said.  
"Heh, not much of a talker are ya?" The Law Pea turned around and said to a Bandit Cactus. "Come 'ere Louise, I think I found us a son." Calamity looked up at the Law Pea,  
eyes opened wide as he exclaimed.  
"Y-You're...considering...adopting me?" The young Peashooter blushed and the Bandit Cactus said.  
"Hey Tennessee, I think you 'ave found us a son." Calamity grinned in joy and a weird sensation ran over him. Before anyone knew what was happening, Calamity was hypering out and onto the lawn outside the orphanage. After a few seconds, the Peashooter fell onto the lawn in exhaustion and Tennessee said.  
"Hehe, nice. So, do you mind us becoming your parents?" Calamity shook his head and said happily.  
"Of course not!" Louise looked at Madame Seville and said.  
"Well then, I guess it's settled."

* * *

 _Flashforward to the present._

* * *

"Little did I know, a few days after they adopted me, they both lost their jobs...my foster 'mother' ignored me while my foster 'father' became an alcoholic and beat me. They both blamed me for their woes and my 'mother' nearly killed me one night..." Ali hugged me and said.  
"Oh if only I knew earlier...I would have convinced my mum to get you out of there." I smiled softly at her before saying.  
"It's fine now...They won't be bothering me anymore."


	31. Chapter 31: Blood of the broken

After a few minutes, Pete looked across the table at Alison's parents and said.  
"I promise that no harm shall come to Alison, and if it did, it would be the day I die." Alison looked at Pete and said cautiously.  
"I hope that day doesn't come any time soon." There were a few laughs around the table but most of the plants were focused on the food set before them. Pete frowned and said sadly.  
"But it's true...the only time I will let harm come to you is the day I die...and if I do die, I hope it's protecting you, our son, family, friends...even a stranger."Alison sighed, she was trying to repress the anger that was building up inside her and said with frustration in her voice.  
"Don't you have any idea about the concept of self-preservation?" Pete looked Alison in her light blue eyes and said seriously.  
"I know what it means...But it has no place in my heart." Alison felt the anger building up and she said angrily.  
"You care a lot about other plants...but don't you care about yourself?" Pete frowned and said sadly.  
"What's there to care about?" Alison couldn't hold it in anymore and she shocked everyone in the restaurant as she yelled.  
"A LOT! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?! OPEN YOUR EYES! LOOK AROUND THIS TABLE! WE ALL CARE ABOUT YOU SO THERE'S OBVIOUSLY SOMETHING IN YOU TO CARE ABOUT!" Pete looked at the enraged Fire Flower and said in a voice full of self-loathing and anger.  
"No there isn't! I've only caused you pain...I'm the reason Ash died! I'm the reason Wulf nearly died! I-I'm gonna be the reason you die..." Alison looked at the distraught Peashooter before her, she was starting to feel sorry for them, but the anger that had built up in her made her yell at him again.  
"YOU'VE ALSO MADE ME HAPPY! STOP DWELLING ON THE PAST AND LOOK TO THE FUTURE!" Pete stood up and said angrily back, he refused to yell at her.  
"And look forward to what? I'm only going to make you miserable." Alison tried to bite back what she was about to yell, she knew if she let it out, it would destroy the Peashooter that stood in front of her. Despite trying her best, Alison let it slip out.  
"I WISH I HAD LEFT YOU TO DIE ON THAT STREET FOURTEEN YEARS AGO!" Pete stepped away from the table in shock while a large collective gasp broke out through the restaurant. Alison realized what she had said and tried to apologize by saying softly and quietly. "P-Pete, I didn't mean it..." Pete ignored Alison's weak attempt to apologize and said with tears forming in his eyes.

"If you wanted me dead...you should have just said." Pete turned from the table and left the restaurant. He hypered through the garden to lose any plants that might have followed him out into the giant garden beside the restaurant. As Pete hypered through the garden, he got strange looks from plants and the occasional human and he eventually found himself under the tree that he had carved his and Alison's initials together in a heart over twelve years ago. Pete glared at the intials and started punching the tree where the initials were. After a few minutes , Pete collapsed onto the ground in a heap, he let the tears flow free.

Orlan and Ambrose wandered the park like garden as they searched for their cousin, they were worried he would do something drastic. It took them just over fifteen minutes of searching high and low to find their Peashooter cousin laying on the ground, he was in a fetal position beneath a tree that sat atop a lone hill. The brothers slowly approached their cousin and Orlan asked cautiously.  
"H-Hey, Pete...you alright?" After a minute , a quiet voice that was coated in self-loathing, anger and sarcasm replied.  
"Do I look fine?" Orlan sighed and got closer to Pete before saying in a joking manner.  
"Of course you do..." Orlan didn't get to finish his sentence, Pete had cut him off by saying.  
"I'm not in the mood for jokes. What do you want anyway?" Orlan looked at his Fire Pea brother and shrugged. Ambrose shook his head and rolled Pete over and out of his fetal position to find something they did not want to see. Ambrose bent down and pulled a large chunk of bark out of Pete's stem, which resulted in the Peashooter bleeding heavily. Orlan and Ambrose panicked while Pete just looked at the wound and shrugged it off, he had given up on life.

Colin sat in the cell he had been in for a few weeks now, he wondered whether it was the right thing to do, trying to kill off other plants when footsteps, human footsteps, echoed from down the metal corridor. The Toxic Pea stuck his head out of the cell and looked in the direction of the sound, what he saw made him lurch inside. An Agent Pea, who he remembered being named Jack, was walking beside two humans, both wearing sophisticated lab coats, the taller one appearing to be robotically enhanced as most of their face, and one of their eyes, being replaced with robotic parts. Colin sat back down on the metal bench in his cell, he didn't expect the odd entourage to stop outside his cell. So when they did stop outside his cell, he was confused, until Jack said.  
"Well, this is the Toxic Pea you requested to see..." The shorter human looked at Jack and said.  
"Hans, I am Hans." Hans turned his attention to the tall cyborg beside him and continued . "So Herr Doctor, here is the specimen I was talking about not too long ago." The human that was referred to as 'The Doctor' smirked and said.  
"You have done well Hans...Now then, let's get to business." The Doctor looked at Jack and said. "In my home country, auf wiedersehen means goodbye so, auf wiedersehen master Jack." Jack gave the Doctor a confused look, before it was replaced with shock and pain as the Doctor's robotic eye fired a laser at Jack, the Agent Pea fell quickly. Colin yelled out before his vision began to swirl and he was quickly plunged into darkness.


	32. Chapter 32: Insanity

After panicking for a few minutes , Orlan and Ambrose grabbed their cousin and began dragging him back to the restaurant. After five minutes of dragging, they reached the restaurant and just as they pushed open the doors, Pete went limp. Alison saw the blood dripping from Pete's stem and immediately yelled at the two brothers dragging him.  
"WHAT HAPPENED TO PETE?!" Orlan and Ambrose looked at eachother with concerned looks and said simultaneously.  
"We have no idea." Alison pushed the brothers aside, which caused them to drop Pete's unconscious body to the floor, and revived Pete. Alison glared at the bleeding Peashooter and said angrily.  
"What, is, wrong with you?!" Pete looked at her sadly and said as fiercely as Alison.  
"A LOT! I can't believe you're only noticing now." Alison looked taken aback as she said.  
"You did not just say that. You know what, if you really want to know...I know how flawed you are, I've known since the first day we met. But every good deed you did,  
every life you saved, every blow you took for me or another...they outweighed your flaws." Pete growled softly and said angrily.  
"None of that is to be proud about, none of that should be congratulated! I was just...doing the right thing...which to you is the wrong thing." Alison calmed herself down and said softly.  
"I don't think what you do is the wrong thing to do...It's just, you have to care about yourself every now and then." Pete sighed before saying.  
"I don't want a repeat of our last conversation." Alison sighed as well before covering the large gash in Pete's stem, the Peashooter only ignored her. When Alison stepped away from the injured plant, she was on the verge of tears, they hadn't reacted to her touch or gesture of goodwill. She turned away, only to be stopped by someone hugging her and a voice said softly.  
"Please forgive me...I can't live without you." Alison pushed herself out of the hug and looked at the teary eyed Peashooter, she ended up saying.  
"I forgive you..." Before she could react or continue , Pete had pulled her into a tighter hug which she returned.

Colin looked around, he was in a room he had never seen before, the spotless white walls confused him the most. He stood up and he felt a weird sensation around his head,  
he normally wore a gas mask but it was gone, someone must have taken it off of him. Colin walked around the room, there appeared to be no doors, no windows, in fact nothing but walls, a ceiling and a floor. Colin sat down and waited for death to come, unless he was already dead, he couldn't tell. After a few minutes of boredom, which felt like an eternity for the bored Toxic Pea, he was teleported to another room, this time the walls and floor, and in some places, the ceiling, were splattered with the blood stains of various plants, humans and zombies. On one side of the reasonably sized room stood a Hot Rod Chomper, on another side stood a terrified looking Power Flower and on the other side stood a sympathetic looking Ice Cactus. After a few seconds, a voice spoke out of a loud speaker from the roof.  
"Now that you are all here, you are to fight to the death...so good luck." All four plants looked at eachother in shock, well they each assumed it was shock. The Ice Cactus walked over to the Power Flower and said softly to them.  
"Don't worry, I'll make sure you don't get hurt." The Ice Cactus stood beside the sitting Power Flower and didn't make a move against the other two plants. Colin simply stared at the other plants, something in him was telling him to do it, kill the plants that were before him but another part of him kept saying no. On the other hand the Hot Rod Chomper saw the Power Flower as an easy meal and charged the Ice Cactus who tried their best to hold back the Chomper, but they were quickly felled, she was a sniper,  
not a frontline fighter. This left the Power Flower as an easy target for the Hot Rod Chomper who went to chomp the cowering Power Flower. But before the Hot Rod Chomper could chomp the terrified Power Flower, Colin had tackled the Hot Rod Chomper, which threw off their aim and they missed the Power Flower, barely. The Hot Rod Chomper growled and charged the Toxic Pea that was trying to get the Power Flower to run which resulted in Colin being thrown across the room, a pissed off Hot Rod Chomper charging him. Colin pushed himself up and barely dodged the enraged Hot Rod Chomper who charged into a wall and knocked themselves out. Colin looked at them, if he let them live, they would come to and finish the job, on the other hand, Colin didn't want to kill them, unfortunately he wouldn't have a choice. Out of nowhere, a spear impaled itself in the Hot Rod Chomper's chest and Colin was being shocked into submission by a rapid barrage of electrical pulses. He looked around to find the Power Flower with a deranged grin on their face as they said menacingly.  
"All too easy. You're all fools and I can't believe you of all plants fell for the terrified and weak sunflower trick." The small Power Flower approached Colin, who lay on the ground in pain, and continued . "You know, you aren't much of a Sativum...you've met a Lathyrus...and befriended them..." Colin cut off the Power Flower and said angrily.  
"I did...they're dead to me now." The Power Flower looked unimpressed and said.  
"You still care for them...no matter how much you deny it. You would have killed us if you didn't." Colin pushed himself up and said angrily.  
"You don't know me at all..." The Power Flower cut Colin off and said.  
"Oh I know you better than you know yourself." Colin snapped and tackled the Power Flower who stared into Colin's eyes, she saw how wrong she was. Colin shot the Power Flower till they died before standing up and looking around the blood splattered room. On one side lay the dead Ice Cactus, behind him lay the, presumabley dead, Hot Rod Chomper and beneath him lay the definitely dead Power Flower.


	33. Chapter 33: Blood Sports

Colin was teleported from the blood splattered room and into, what seemed like, a large clearing in the middle of a forest, the moans and groans of the undead nearby. The Toxic Pea stood still, he didn't know what he was supposed to do, until a few more plants were teleported into the clearing and a voice spoke out over a loudspeaker.  
"Your task is that of...'survival of the fittest.' Last plant standing moves on. But be aware , there are things in this chamber none of you would have faced before.  
Good luck." As soon as the announcer finished, all hell broke loose. Peas, spikes and goop flew across the clearing, a few plants vanquished quickly. Colin turned from the carnage and hypered into the forest, where he ran into a horde of browncoats which he quickly felled with a few, well placed, irradiated peas. Colin kept running,  
which lead him to an abandoned sawmill where he took cover. After a few minutes , the sound of a revving chainsaw broke out from across the sawmill which was quickly followed by a blood curdling scream and a maniacal laugh. Colin looked out of a window that let him see across the sawmill to find a hulking zombie, larger than any elite, but smaller than a gargantuar, it wore a military uniform and it was wielding a blood splattered chainsaw. Colin jumped out of the window and left the sawmill, only to run into a zombie that was the same size as the chainsaw wielding one, but this one had a machine gun and it fired, fast. Despite activating his hyper ability, Colin was still hit by a large number of bullets that left him bleeding in a large number of places but he made it out of the zombies line of fire, barely. As Colin took cover behind a tree, A Fire Chomper burst out from the trees, they were also riddled with bullet holes but unlike Colin, they appeared to have no shred of sympathy. The Fire Chomper began to spray fire towards Colin who turned and ran towards the machine gun wielding zombie. Just as Colin began to feel the flames licking at his back, they dissipated and the Fire Chomper was vanquished as the sound of a machine gun firing broke out. Colin took cover behind a tree and sighed in relief, only to have the machine gun wielding zombie come around the side of the tree and, using their machine gun as a club, knocked Colin over. The Toxic Pea rolled out of the way of a follow up attack and shot the zombie, who shrugged off the radioactive material left by the irradiated pea and said menacingly.  
"Nice try...now DIE!" Before the zombie could finish off Colin, A few peas knocked the machine gun out of the zombies hands, both Toxic Pea and Zombie looking at a bloody Peashooter in shock. A few seconds later, a chainsaw went straight through the Peashooter, slicing them in half, the only noise being that of the chainsaw. Colin gasped as the machine gun zombie grabbed him by the throat and said menacingly.  
"Your life, ends like theirs."

Alison and Pete released each other and looked at the group of plants that were gathered around them, they all seemed relived. Just as Alison helped Pete up, they were approached by the Power Cactus who said.  
"Alison, you're wanted at L.E.A.F." Everyone looked at Alison in surprise before he said.  
"Ok...I guess we should all go...just in case." Nobody objected and they all followed Alison out into a large open area and she pulled out a temporary portal canister which she deployed on an empty lawn. Alison went through first and she was followed by Pete, Desmond, Orlan, Ambrose and Pete's aunt. They were then followed in by Alison's parents, Wulf, Vivian, Ash and Elaine. Alison was approached by a Fire Cactus who said.  
"Please follow me...We have some, urgent news." Everybody followed the Fire Cactus to a meeting room where, first, only Alison was let in. In the small meeting room sat Icee, an Ice Pea who was one of the leading plants at L.E.A.F, a Camo Cactus who also was on of the leading plants and the ex members of Alison's Fire Team and Team Sierra. Alison took a seat and she said before anybody else.  
"I have some...friends here as well, some of them you do know." The Camo Cactus and Icee looked at eachother before the Camo Cactus asked in a gruff voice.  
"Who are these...'friends'?" Alison smiled slightly and said.  
"Wulf, Vivian...Pete..." As soon as Alison ushered Pete's name, the Camo Cactus shook their head and said.  
"Impossible...Pete's dead." As soon as the Camo Cactus finished speaking, the door opened and the other plants that had been at the restaurant with Alison walked in and not only the Camo Cactus was shocked. When Pete, Ash and Elaine walked in, the room went silent with shock, three plants that were presumably dead were standing in their midst. Pete sighed and said.  
"Yes...we are alive. I never died Ash and Elaine...I don't know." The awkward silence persisted for over a minute before Icee broke it.  
"This is...kinda creepy...but anyway, back to why we're here." Icee pointed to a screen, that represented a map of Suburbia, and pointed to an area in the northern part of Suburbia before continuing . "Our, well your goal, is to infiltrate this human facility and free the plants trapped in the structure. I hate to say this, but you will be going up against humans, so don't let your good side take hold in there, it could be the difference between life and death." When Icee finished, there was another period of awkward silence before Joan, a Fire Cactus, asked.  
"Why are we going against humans?" There was a pause before Icee said angrily.  
"One of them...murdered Jack and so I got some intelligence about the facility the...murderers came from and they're murdering plants non stop...we need to stop this...it's our duty." Joan sighed and said.  
"Well count me out." James, a Fire Pea, and Elias, a Fire Chomper, also opted out and so Pete, his family, Ash, Elaine, Wulf and Vivian volunteered to go with Alison and the last members of Team Sierra, Peter, a Commando Peashooter and Cole, a Chomper. The Camo Cactus smiled and said.  
"Very well then...Don't die in there, you may never be seen again." With that, Icee concluded the meeting and the Fire Cactus that had originally lead them to the meeting room, lead them back to the portal room where the group of plants prepared to go.


	34. Chapter 34: The death of a father

Colin stared into the empty pupils of the zombie that held him by his throat, he wasn't going down without a fight. The zombie only smirked at Colin and threw the Toxic Peashooter at their chainsaw wielding compatriot. As soon as Colin hit the ground, he rolled, he didn't know where or which way, he was just making himself a hard target for the chainsaw wielding zombie. Colin felt the chainsaw barely clip the back of his head so he pushed himself up and dodged an attempt by the zombie to slice him in half. Colin thought he had successfully dodged the attack, until a sharp pain ran through his stem. Colin whimpered as he felt the chainsaw dig itself into his stem. The Toxic Pea pushed himself back so the chainsaw only left a deep cut in their stem and Colin hypered back towards the sawmill, he had an idea. Despite the extra speed his hyper ability gave him, the chainsaw wielding super elite kept up with Colin but on the other hand the machine gun wielding super elite was a lot slower than him. As soon as Colin was back in the sawmill, he saw exactly what he was looking for, a bundle of logs being held by a crane. The Toxic Pea was going to try and crush the super elite with the logs. The chainsaw wielding zombie burst out from the trees and charged at Colin who ran towards the logs. Just as Colin began passing under the logs, his plan backfired as a sharp, metallic snap sounded out and Colin was trapped beneath the logs that he was going to use to kill the elite. He looked around, there was no way the chainsaw elite cut the wire and the machine gun elite was to far away to do it. Colin wondered about it for a few seconds then the answer presented itself, a sniper had shot the wire as they now shot Colin, barely missing his head. Colin pushed himself out from under the logs and ran for one of the decrepit structures at the far edge of the sawmill. Just before he could reach the door, the sniper managed to hit him in one of his roots, which caused him to trip and fall, this made the Toxic Pea an easy target for the sniper and the chainsaw elite. Colin knew he couldn't get away so he shot towards where he thought the sniper was, when a strange sensation overcame him and he was teleported out and into a new room, one that he couldn't decide whether it was good or not.

Hans looked around the lab, he was smiling as he knew that he was right about the Toxic Peashooter that sat on one of the many tables. His brother came over to him and said.  
"You never disappoint Hans, well done. Looks like we will be ready in only a few days thanks to your efforts." Hans smiled at his brother and said.  
"Danke Herr Doktor." Hans' brother smiled and said.  
"You know...once we get our turf back, I might return to using my name...Well, I won't keep you any longer, we have science to get back to." Hans farewelled his brother and muttered under his breathe.  
"Back to building an army."

Hans turned his attention towards the blood covered Toxic Peashooter, while they had survived, they had done so, barely. Hans knew that if he was wrong about the Toxic Pea, his brother would most likely kill him so he walked over to them and said.  
"Test subject 143, we need to talk." The Toxic Pea ignored him so Hans grabbed them, which was a terrible idea because his hand began to burn, but he ignored the pain and continued .  
"Listen to me you weed. Both my life and yours rely on your survival." Colin looked taken aback and pushed the human away before saying.  
"The name's Colin...and why does your life count on mine?" Hans growled slightly, if he killed them, his life would follow next so he said calmly.  
"Very well then...Colin. I'm the one that got you here..." Colin jumped up and went to attack the human, but a sharp, electrical pulse ran its way through his stem and he whimpered in pain. When Colin stopped whimpering, Hans continued . "You're here because we need plants like you...murder machines who shed no remorse when they murder others of their species or kind. You get what I'm saying?" Colin nodded cautiously and asked.  
"But why?" Hans frowned and said quietly.  
"That...I cannot say. But remember, if you survive all of this, you will get anything you want." Colin frowned slightly and asked.  
"So I have to survive these murder fests to get out of here?" Hans smiled slightly and said.  
"Think of them as...tests instead of murder fests as you just described. Pass and you're rewarded. Fail, well, that'll be the last time you ever breathe." With that,  
Hans left the laboratory and headed to his personal chambers for some much needed sleep, he had been awake for over a week after being used as a test subject for a performance enhancing drug.

An eccentric looking Citrus Cactus approached Alison and said.  
"Good luck on your mission. The teleporter is ready so just walk through when you're ready." Alison thanked the Citrus Cactus before saying to Desmond.  
"You're staying here with your grandparents and I don't care how much you want to go, the answer is no." Desmond immediately felt deflated and looked at his father who did the unexpected and said.  
"I'm sorry Des, but I'm going to have to agree with your mother...It's far too dangerous for you to come." Desmond began to tear up and he said angrily.  
"Why? Because mum says no you are. I can help...I really can...I won't be in the way...I'll...I'll..." Desmond couldn't continue , he was to busy biting back the need to cry, even though if he did, the tears would only evaporate. Pete's Aunt looked at the young, distraught Fire Pea and said to Alison.  
"Look, he should come. He could use the experience and there are four of us who would throw ourselves in front of him if needed." Alison frowned and said cautiously.  
"IF he gets hurt...I will blame you all and make you hurt in ways you could never imagine. So, Desmond, you can come." Desmond began to celebrate but Alison continued .  
"BUT, you MUST stay away from the fighting if there is any, got it." Desmond nodded and the group of plants walked through the teleporter and they found themselves outside a drainage pipe that lay at the base of a giant concrete structure, a citadel of human ingenuity.

Pete, Orlan, Peter and Cole approached the pipe first before entering. After a few minutes, Orlan reappeared and signaled for the rest of their team to follow them in.  
After a few minutes they found themselves in a large, circular chamber that was empty, apart from a single ladder that lead up into the roof of the chamber. Ambrose volunteered to climb the ladder first and when he did, he found a horrific sight. When he came back down the ladder he said.  
"There is blood all over the place, looks like the intel that Ice Pea got wasn't wrong. Looks like a slaughter house up there." The flame on Desmond's head went white with fear and Pete said.  
"Maybe only a few of us should go up, that way only a few of us die or get captured instead of all of us." Alison frowned and said.  
"That's, probably for the best...What's that noise?" There was a deep rumbling sound coming from the drainage pipe they had just entered through and a few seconds later, a large horde of browncoats burst into the chamber. Pete, Ash, Cole, Peter, Wulf, Orlan and Ambrose ran towards the horde and started vanquishing some of the browncoats and Pete yelled back.  
"Everyone up the ladder, we'll follow after." After Alison, Desmond, Vivian and Pete's aunt were up the ladder, Pete gave Wulf the gift his dead mother had given him and said.  
"Go, take Peter, Cole, Ash and my cousins with you, I'll be up after." Wulf nodded cautiously and set off for the ladder with the other plants. As soon as they were up the ladder, Pete went to climb it, until he was grabbed by a browncoat and dragged back into the horde where they started pulling him apart. Despite trying his best, Pete couldn't break free and he began to accept his fate, there was no getting out of this one. Despite the pain that seared through his body, Pete refused to yell, he didn't want Alison to worry about him.

When Pete failed to emerge from the hole in the floor after Wulf, Alison knew something was up so she looked back down into the chamber, what she saw caused her to scream immediately, Pete was being slowly ripped apart by the browncoats. Alison went to jump in but Wulf grabbed her and said.  
"No, I have a better idea." Wulf held Alison back before shooting Pete, who had started to falter, till he fell still. Alison fell onto the floor in shock before whispering.  
"N-no..." After a few seconds she pushed herself up and screamed at Wulf. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE! WE COULD HAVE..." Wulf cut Alison off by saying.  
"No we couldn't have, there are too many of them, it would have been a suicide mission." Alison screamed back.  
"THIS IS A SUICIDE MISSION!" As soon as Alison finished screaming, an alarm went off, they had been revealed. Alison stopped screaming and the group set off through the slaughter house like room. Once they were out in a sterile hallway, they set off towards an elevator at the end of the hallway. Just as they reached the elevator, a human armed with a shotgun stepped out from a room and looked at the group of plants in shock. Before the human could react, Ash chomped them and the group of plants entered the elevator, which would prove to be a stupid idea.

When the elevator reached the floor that was marked as 'Laboratory and Cells', they were meet with a large number of humans, most of them armed with guns. The group of plants scattered into the lab, each of them taking fire from the large number of humans. After a few minutes, the laboratory went silent, a strange gas entered the room and the humans fell over, all of them unconscious. The plants on the other hand weren't affected by the gas, except Ambrose and Desmond, both plants felt like they were being continually doused with water. Wulf pushed Alison back into the elevator and grabbed Desmond before joining her in the elevator. The other plants also joined them in the elevator, except for Orlan and Ambrose, the brothers seemed to have disappeared in the gas. Despite wanting to go back for them, Pete's aunt didn't have a chance and they took the elevator to the roof where they teleported back to L.E.A.F using a temporary portal canister.

Orlan looked around as he carried his brother fireman style, the gas was beginning to clear. As soon as the gas cleared, the brothers were quickly surrounded by gun armed humans who told them to stay where they were. Orlan swore and stayed still while they were approached by a tall human with a, mainly, robotic face, they carried the corpse of their cousin, a large number of chunks missing from their blood splattered body. Orlan growled slightly, which lead to a human shooting him and he immediately stopped. The human with the robotic face and eye said.  
"What made you think that attacking this fortress of humanity was a good idea?" Orlan only glared at the human who glared back and continued. "Very well then, I guess I will have to kill the plant you hold...unless you tell me why you are here." Orlan thought for a couple of seconds before saying.  
"One of you murdered an important plant so we're here to avenge them." The Doctor laughed and said.  
"Well you did a terrible job and now...You shall serve me, whether you like it, or not."


	35. Chapter 35: Dividing a family

When Alison emerged in the L.E.A.F portal room, she collapsed onto the floor in tears, she was coming to terms with the fact that Pete, the Peashooter she was certain that she would be with till they both died, was consigned to oblivion without her. She was too busy crying to notice the others that had gone with her also in a mixed state of mourning and pain, all of them had been shot at least once. The Citrus Cactus that ran the portal wasn't there, instead Icee and the Camo Cactus were there waiting for them, their expressions changing from expectation to surprise. After a few seconds, Icee asked.  
"What happened? Where are the others?" When Icee finished speaking, Alison cried out in anguish before saying angrily.  
"Pete's...dead. Wulf killed him." Wulf looked at Alison in shock before saying.  
"I did it to save him from a painful death..." Alison screamed at Wulf.  
"WE COULD HAVE TRIED TO SAVE HIM!" Wulf looked around, none of the other plants that had gone were willing to talk so he replied.  
"There was no chance. We were being pushed back the entire time down there...it would have been a lost cause." Alison ignore Wulf and lay down on the floor, she didn't know what to feel anymore. Lionela, Pete's Ice Pea aunty, on the other hand was staring off into nothingness, she was still coming to terms with the loss of her two sons.

Orlan slowly lowered his brother to the floor before saying cautiously.  
"If you want revenge for what we've done. Take it out on me and release my brother." The Doctor smiled mischievously and said.  
"I respect your bravery. Very well then, I shall release your brother and you shall become a subject." As soon as the Doctor finished speaking, Orlan was teleported to a pure white room, a Toxic Pea sat hunched over against one of the walls. Orlan looked at the Toxic Pea before saying.  
"Hey, the names Orlan." The Toxic Pea jerked their head up at Orlan and said in a raspy voice.  
"The names Colin." The Toxic Pea named Colin was gripping their stem halfway up, blood was slowly dripping onto the pristine, white floor. Orlan stood up and walked over to the injured Toxic Pea, he gave them a bandage that he had in the satchel he wore around his stem. Colin thanked Orlan and wrapped the appendage around the deep cut. Colin looked up at Orlan after covering the wound and asked.  
"Why did you give the bandage? In here it's kill or be killed...why are you being nice?" Orlan smiled slightly as he said.  
"If it was kill or be killed, you would have killed me straight away. I saw that there was good in you so it's worth helping you out." Colin chuckled slightly before saying.  
"You remind me of someone...too bad I'll never get to apologize to them." Orlan sat beside Colin and said.  
"I'm sure you will get the opportunity to apologize. Look, how did you get that injury?" Colin frowned and said angrily.  
"In here, they put us against each other and zombies and they see who survives." Orlan also frowned and said angrily.  
"That's barbaric! How could they do such a thing!" Colin lightened up slightly and said.  
"Because they're humans. They do terrible things all the time and derive pleasure from the suffering of others." Orlan looked at the floor and said.  
"I refuse to take part in these...games . I'm breaking out of here when I get the chance." Colin frowned before he smiled and said.  
"Count me in then. I want out as well." The plants shook pods and smiled at each other, they were determined to get out.

Ambrose on the other hand was teleported outside of the large, metallic L.E.A.F HQ where he was approached by a Shadow Flower, who was one of the guards, and they asked.  
"Who are you and where did you come from?" Ambrose looked around in confusion before saying.  
"I am Ambrose Lathyrus...I'm from the structure the humans have christened 'The Citadel'...where am I?" The Shadow Flower helped the weakened Fire Pea up before saying.  
"You're at the L.E.A.F HQ...and thank goodness as well. Your, I'm going to assume mother, has been going on about how she failed her sons and nephew and...just follow me." The Shadow Flower lead Ambrose to the infirmary where his mother was sitting on one of the beds with the Fire Flower called Alison, who his cousin had been in love with before his, untimely death. When the distressed Ice Pea noticed him, she ran up to him and pulled him into a hug. After a few seconds, Lionela, Ambrose's mother, stepped away from him and asked.  
"Where's your brother?" Ambrose frowned and said quietly.  
"He sacrificed himself to get me out of there." Lionela looked down and said sadly.  
"I should have guessed...Let's hope we won't be mourning for two family members tonight."

After leaving the damaged laboratory, the Doctor took the dead Peashooter he held to his private lab in the crypt of 'The Citadel', which was the name of the large, concrete structure that was home to a reasonably large human population. Once in, he placed the dead Peashooter beside the corpses of a few other plants before looking through his experimentation binder that contained the most classified files and documents in the facility. After a few minutes, he came across an experiment that had failed three times before hand and decided that the Peashooter would be the perfect test subject. The Doctor spent the next hour putting together the small machine that had failed on a multitude of occasions before hand, but this time he was certain of success. After completing the small machine, which looked like a standard washing machine, he placed the Peashooter inside and turned it on. The machine began to emit a ghostly white light, a deep whirring noise was being emitted as well and after a few seconds, a small 'ding' could be heard and the machine stopped all together. The Doctor smiled deviously as he slowly approached the machine, what he saw inside made him smile in glee, the experiment had been a success. Inside the small machine lay the bloodied corpse of the Peashooter, but beside it sat a white, wispy Peashooter that looked exactly the same. The wispy Peashooter looked up out of the machine and asked.  
"Where am I?" The Doctor's gleeful smile widened and he opened the machine, the Peashooter ghost floated up and out. The Doctor smiled and said deviously.  
"In my home and workplace where you are welcome IF you listen to, and follow, my orders." The Peashooter ghost looked slightly confused before replying.  
"What happened to my family? What happened to me?" The Doctor pondered the questions for a few seconds before saying.  
"Your family made it out alive and you are now, I believe, a ghost." The Peashooter ghost said in a shocked voice.  
"I-I'm dead...but they made it out alive so it doesn't matter...I did what I had to. Please don't be overreacting Alison."


	36. Chapter 36: The beggining of a storm

The sunflower that was treating to Wulf's wounds finally let him up and out of the infirmary bed he had been confined to. Once up, he grabbed the gift that had been Pete's till his demise, and walked over to Alison. When Alison noticed Wulf, the temperature in the room increased slightly as the colour of the flames around Alison's head changed to a light blue. Wulf ignored the glare Alison was giving him and held out the gold ring that had a few black, red and gold feathers attached to it as he said.  
"Pete wanted you to have this...if he didn't make it out." The flames around Alison's head returned to their customary light orange and she grabbed the ring, tears starting to form in her eyes. She looked up at Wulf and said sadly.  
"I'm sorry for how I acted...I'm still coming to terms with the loss." Wulf patted Alison on the back as he said.  
"It's alright. Heh, I was so stricken with grief when I lost my first girl plant...I...you shouldn't know. But the point is that I will miss him, he was a good friend...but we have to move on at some point...right?" Alison nodded and said.  
"I suppose you're right." Wulf got off of the bed and went over to Vivian. Alison stayed sitting on the bed, she was trying to think of the best thing to do with the gold ring she held.

The Doctor grabbed a few old dossier's from a cabinet that contained the files of the successful experiments in the facility and a fresh document to write in the details of his success. He began writing down the necessary changes that needed to be made to the machine before asking.  
"So, my ghost friend, what is your name?" The ghost Peashooter replied.  
"Pete, Lathyrus." The Doctor wrote down Pete's name and placed 'Ts.#1' next to it. The Doctor grabbed a dossier titled 'Summoner' and began going through the documents as he asked.  
"So, Pete, I would like you to look at a point on the floor, and envision an item you see in this room." Pete looked at a random spot on the barely empty floor and began envisioning a large bone saw which, after a few seconds, appeared on the floor. The Doctor smiled and wrote into the document, under abilities, 'Summoner'. Pete on the other hand was shocked, but he quickly regained his composure. When he finished writing, The Doctor grabbed another dossier, this one titled 'Gravitare', and went through the documents inside as he asked.  
"Now, Pete. I require you to focus on the bone-saw you just summoned and motion towards it, then up. Got it?" Pete nodded and did exactly as The Doctor asked. To Pete's great surprise, the bone-saw rose into the air at the same rate Pete moved his pod up. The Doctor's smile deepened as he wrote under abilities, 'Gravitare'. The Doctor grabbed the final dossier, titled 'Occ Gen.'  
while Pete played around with the bone-saw. After going through the dossier, The Doctor said.  
"Alright Pete, final task for now." Pete placed the bone-saw on the ground and The Doctor continued. "I need you to imagine a skull." Pete nodded, closed his eyes and imagined a skull, when a strange sensation overcame himself and he opened his eyes to find a skull orbiting around himself. The Doctor smiled and fired a laser at the dumbfounded Peashooter ghost and, unsurprisingly to The Doctor, the laser passed straight through them. The Doctor snapped Pete out of his own world by asking.  
"Do you feel strange?" Pete nodded and said.  
"I feel...empty." The Doctor wrote down under abilities 'Skull Shield' and replied.  
"You'll get used to it." The Doctor shot the skull and Pete began to feel like normal again, just tireder than usual. The Doctor placed the document in it's own folder and placed it, and the other dossier's that he used, together in a pile and placed them in a binder. The Doctor looked at Pete and said.  
"You will have to stay in here till I come back...I recommend practicing your abilities while you're in here, ok?" Pete nodded and The Doctor left their private laboratory.

After what felt like an eternity, Colin and Orlan were teleported into a laboratory, where they were approached by a human scientist named Hans. Hans grabbed a syringe and injected Colin and Orlan with the contents. As soon as he was done, Hans left them and soon the two plants were able to read each others thoughts, something that initially scared them, but they quickly realized they could use it to their advantage. As soon as they realized they had an advantage, a third mind seemed to intrude upon their shared mind, this one was their entirely by accident. The third mind called out.  
"What's there?" Neither plant knew how to react, until one of them thought.  
"Just great, a random mind intruding on my privacy. Might as well write a book and call it 'The not so private thoughts of Orlan Lathyrus...Oh crap." The intruding mind sent out a thought of resentment and worry.  
"Cousin Orlan? You didn't escape?" Orlan immediately knew who the worried thoughts belonged to, but weren't they supposed to be dead? Orlan asked via his mind.  
"Pete? Is that you?" The intruding mind replied.  
"Yes...who is with you?" The Toxic Peashooter, that had managed to remain silent when it came to his thoughts, sent a thought to Pete.  
"Colin...Pete, don't think of me as a bad plant anymore. I've learnt my lessons within this place I seriously regret what I tried doing to you." Pete managed to, somehow, convey that he was sighing to the two plants that he was sharing thoughts with and sent a thought to them.  
"Look, I'm willing to forgive you Colin. So how do you plan on getting out?" Neither Orlan or Colin had come up with a plan and were quickly stumped by Pete's question. They felt Pete withdraw his mind from theirs and almost immediately after Pete pulled out of their minds, a strange sensation flew over them and they were teleported from the laboratory they were in to a dark, dingy lab that appeared to be in the crypt of the human structure.

Pete opened his eyes to find Colin and Orlan sitting on the floor before him in shock. Summoning the two plants seriously drained him energy wise and he slumped to the ground. After a few seconds Orlan was the first to bring up the elephant in the room as he said.  
"What happened to you Pete?" Pete chuckled slightly before replying.  
"I'm a ghost and I have no idea how so don't ask." Orlan nodded at his cousin and Colin asked.  
"How did we get here?" Pete thought about the question for a few seconds before answering.  
"I can...summon objects so I thought, why not try plants and it worked...nut damn, that was really draining." Colin and Orlan both looked at the ghost Peashooter, who was slumped on the floor against the wall, in shock and Orlan asked.  
"So, what else can you do?" Pete contemplated the question before answering.  
"I can levitate objects, summon objects and create a skull that orbits around me that makes me immune to attacks...until the skull is destroyed." Orlan and Colin were impressed and Colin couldn't help but ask.  
"Could you...potentially, create more than one skull...or even have it protect more than one plants?" Pete frowned and said.  
"I don't know...plus I'm too tired to try right now. Give me a couple of minutes at the most and then I can try." As soon as Pete was ready, he began to imagine more than one skulls and he tried to imagine his Law Pea cousin and his Toxic Pea friend in there as well. When Pete opened his eyes, he was surprised, it had worked. There were three skulls orbiting himself, another three orbiting Orlan and another three orbiting Colin. Colin and Orlan were shocked as they both felt strange, empty, but they quickly got used to it. Pete let the skulls disappear and Colin said.  
"You know, I think we can get out of here, all three of us...Thanks to Pete's new abilities."


	37. Chapter 37: Smarter than ZombossNOT!

**A/N: Sorry for taking so long to update this story, I just had to get some of the ideas in the other two stories I'm working on out. But now I should be updating this story some more...so on with the chapter.**

Corinth opened his weary eyes, he was still alive, which he found to be a miracle. He looked around the dark room he was lying in, the same cold stone made up the walls and the floor of the dingy, blood stained cellar. Corinth pushed himself up and recoiled in shock from the groaning Primal Peashooter that was slowly pushing themselves up. The two plants glared at each other in shock and confusion as they both asked.

"What happened to you? I asked you first." Corinth growled internally as he said through gritted teeth.

"Not much father. I see you've changed." The Primal Peashooter appeared to be an advanced Peashooter but they still looked like a Primal Pea. Corinth's father smirked as he said.

"You've changed as well you traitorous bastard." Corinth smirked as well, he to, was an advanced plant now. The two Peashooters glared at each other for over a minute, both sizing up the other. After a minute, Corinth lunged at his father, who simply laughed as he shot his son. The uneven pea slammed into Corinth and, not only knocked him onto his back, it also stunned him for a few seconds. The Primal Pea took advantage of their sons temporary openness to tackle them and punch them a couple of times. When Corinth came to his senses, he shot his father off of himself and grabbed their throat. The Primal Pea growled and slugged their son across the face. Corinth threw his father against the wall as he felt the blood start to trickle down his face. The Primal Pea groaned as they leaned against the wall, only to have Corinth start pummeling them with a short, wooden pole. After a few minutes, the Primal Pea fell silent and Corinth threw the pole aside, blood covered the pole and his bloodied father. Corinth grabbed his father and dragged him with him as he limped out of the cellar. After half an hour of limping, Corinth reached the crowed bus station, he received many strange looks from the two humans, the shade wearing Citron and a Rock Peashooter with a spear holstered on their back. Corinth ignored them and waited for the bus.

Ali slowly approached her mother, Sonatra, who had a look of relief and anger on her face. Once the two sunflowers were close to each other, Sonatra pulled her daughter into a hug and said.

"Where have you been young lady?" Ali frowned slightly as the two plants stopped hugging and she said.

"Doing...stuff..." Sonatra scowled at her daughter.

"That isn't a sufficient answer. You have no idea how worried I've been." Ali's frown deepened as she replied.

"I can tell. Look, I swear I did nothing bad and no one got hurt." Sonatra gave her daughter a skeptical look as she said.

"If no one got hurt...where's Calamity and Benard?" Ali said apprehensively.

"Well uh...Benard said he had to go somewhere while Calamity is going to visit...someone." Sonatra looked right into her daughters eyes as she said.

"Tell me where they are." Ali sighed and gave in as she said.

"Benard went somewhere...somewhere I don't know while Calamity is going to L.E.A.F, for some reason." Sonatra frowned at her daughter and said.

"We're going to L.E.A.F...now young lady." Ali sighed and followed her mother to the nearest bus station, which was a five minute walk from their home. When they reached the bus station, they were presented with an interesting sight. There were two humans, a Citron, which surprised Ali as Citron's were rare around Suburbia, a Rock Pea, who had a spear holstered on their back, and an Advanced Peashooter holding onto an unconscious Advanced Peashooter who had tufts of hair all over them. Ali's surprise moved from the hairy Peashooter to her mother, she was asking the conscious Peashooter a question.

"Can I help at all?" The Peashooter was shocked by Sonatra's question and replied by holding out their unconscious friend and simply grunting. Sonatra healed the hairy Peashooter before healing the other Peashooter's injuries.

When she was finished she sat beside her daughter and waited for the bus. When the bus arrived, ten minutes later, Sonatra paid for herself and Ali before taking a seat in the third row of seats from the front.

Colin, Orlan and Pete spent half an hour getting ready to break out of The Citadel. As soon as they were ready, they found a serious problem, Pete seemed to be bound to a capsule that sat on a desk. Orlan grabbed the capsule and they were able to break out of the room. As soon as they were out into the dark, stone brick hallway. Pete summoned the skulls that would protect them against attacks, until the skulls were destroyed. The small group of three headed down the dingy hallway towards the stairs that were at the end of the hall. As they ascended the stairs, the sound of voices grew louder and louder and as soon as they crested the top of the spiral staircase, they were presented with the sight of a human talking with a strange looking zombie. The zombie wore a bandage that covered the entirety of their head and they wore a well kept uniform that appeared to be of military origin. While it seemed like the zombie and human hadn't noticed them, a sharp pain coursed it's way through the three plants heads, it felt as if their heads were being pried apart. Once the pain receded, the human grabbed their gun and aimed it at Colin while the zombie raised it's hands. Wispy, white orbs flew from the hands of the zombie and, when they hit the ground, a horde of browncoats appeared out of nowhere. Orlan shot the gun out of the humans hand while Colin shot at the horde of browncoats. Pete found that the peas he shot were completely ineffectually against the browncoats, but they seemed to break the strange zombies focus. Despite this discovery, the zombie was able to summon another horde, just as Orlan and Colin finished off the first horde. The human ran up the hallway, leaving their gun behind and, a few seconds later, an alarm rang out through the facility. Pete growled and started levitating random objects in the hall and sending them at the zombie in an attempt to clear the way. Unfortunately the zombie shrugged off everything thrown at them, even a steel beam which now stuck from their chest. Pete growled harder and continued sending objects at the zombie while his cousin and friend tried to deal with the browncoats. After a few minutes of intense close quarter fighting Pete got lucky when a copper pipe pierced straight through the zombies head. This caused the zombies head to explode while the browncoats they had summoned fell limp.

With the hallway clear, the three plants raced down the hall and up the winding staircases. After a few, hectic minutes spent running with the constant threat of being caught looming over them, the plants burst into, what appeared to be, a courtyard, their freedom just on the opposite side of the large, open gate. The three plants sprinted across the large, chess board like courtyard, only to run into an invisible barrier that seemed to hold them back. Colin, Orlan and Pete looked around in confusion, until they were presented with the sight of a massive, humanoid ghost, a large grin spread across their pale face. A deep, booming laugh launched across the courtyard, it seemed to be preceded by a gust of wind. After the laugh came a voice full of sarcasm.

"I congratulate the three of you for making it this far. You know, I had an idea, after I successfully split your soul from your body, Pete. I realized how much a single ghost could do...so I improved the machine, and now look at me, hundreds of times more powerful than you. Hundreds of times smarter than that bumbling, idiotic Zomboss who called himself a leader and-" Pete interrupted the monologuing ghost with a snarky remark.

"He isn't just Zomboss. He's Dr. Edgar George Zomboss." This only caused the ghost to laugh before he spoke.

"Why are you defending your greatest nemesis?" Pete smirked before he spoke.

"Just using his name to distract you." With that, Pete teleported himself, Orlan and Colin out of the facility and outside L.E.A.F Headquarters where they were approached by a few of the shocked guards.


	38. Chapter 38: Pleas

**A/N: I was absolutely shocked when I found out this story broke 1,800 views :O. You guys are awesome and why I keep writing so...you have my thanks and if you are writing a story...KEEP GOING! I really want to know what happens :p**

Alison looked up from the the ring as a group of plants burst into the infirmary. Most of them she didn't know, but she managed to hear a few names she knew. Soon after they burst in, a nurse was quickly ushering a large number of the plants out of the infirmary. Of the large group that had burst in not too long ago, only two remained, as well as a familiar looking, wispy white figure. Alison went to ask the nurse who the plants were when Lionela, Pete's Ice Pea aunty burst into the room with her Fire Pea son, Ambrose, crystallized tears falling from her cheeks as she pulled a Law Pea into a hug. Alison immediately knew that the Law Pea was Orlan, on the other hand, she didn't know who the other plant was, nor the wispy figure that seemed to loom over them. Alison looked down and began to tear up, she was happy for Lionela, but the presence of her son reminded Alison that she would never see Pete again. Alison's tears went unnoticed by everyone else in the infirmary. Colin sat up beside Orlan, he smirked at the Law Pea who seemed to be struggling to breathe with his mothers deathly grip. After a few seconds, the Ice Pea released their Law pea son and spoke.

"How did you make it out?" Orlan smiled at the ghostly white figure of Pete before he spoke.

"My cousin got us out." Orlan's mother seemed to be shocked by the statement and she stammered.

"N-No...th-that's impossible. P-Pete's dead!" Pete looked down at his aunty as he spoke.

"I may be dead, but that doesn't mean I can't help." Lionela only stammered.

"B-But...that's impossible!" Pete chuckled lightly before he replied.

"It's possible. A mad man split my body and soul. That's how I'm here now." Pete slowly drifted away from his aunt and cousins towards a lonely Fire Flower who seemed to have not noticed his presence. Pete hovered beside the Fire Flower and placed his wispy pod on the Fire Flowers shoulder. The Fire Flower jolted slightly at the light touch and looked up at the wispy white Peashooter who hovered in front of her. She recoiled slightly in shock and whispered quietly.

"N-no...Impossible..." Pete pulled her into a hug and spoke quietly.

"It really is me, Alison. Where's Desmond?" Alison withdrew from the hug and wiped away her tears as she spoke.

"He's probably in the canteen...filling his gut." Both Alison and Pete smiled. Alison held the gold ring, that had black, red and gold feathers attached to it, as she read the engraving on the inside

of the ring. After a few seconds the ring began to give off a ghostly white glow, a look of shock was imprinted on Alison's face. She looked around, Pete seemed to have dissipated. After a few seconds in confusion, Pete reappeared, a look of accomplishment on his pale face. Alison couldn't help but ask.

"What has you looking so happy?" Pete looked down at the ring as he spoke.

"Well...Every soul needs a physical connection to this world and well, without my body I need to be bound to a physical object...Well I just changed what I was bound to." Alison shook her head as she tried to comprehend what Pete had just said.

Desmond sat outside the testing chamber, he wondered what it would take to get into it and prove himself. Without really thinking, he opened the door into the chamber and stepped inside. Desmond wandered through the decaying streets of the chamber, they resembled an area of Suburbia that was often called 'Chomp Town'. Desmond didn't expect much to happen, until an alarm rang out and the moans of the undead began to roll through the chamber. Desmond started to run as fast as his roots could carry him as he ran towards the Gas Station that stood beside the statue of Crazy Dave riding a Chomper while holding a Sunflower. Desmond scaled the Gas Station and stood a top the roof, a pot that seemed extremely out of place stood behind the sign. Desmond looked around, a lone Peashooter stood beside a garden. They pulled out a seed packet and placed it in a pot that stood beside the garden, a Gatling-Pea soon grew in the pot, their helmet a few sizes too large as it covered their eyes. The Peashooter wandered off away from the garden so Desmond went over to the struggling Gatling-Pea and righted their helmet so they could see. Once the Gatling-Pea could see, their eyes widened as they took in the scenery. As soon as Desmond wandered off from the Gatling-Pea, a small cry of fear cracked the air and Desmond turned to find the Gatling-Pea struggling to keep a steady rate of fire as they shot at some approaching Browncoats. Desmond watched in apprehension but soon the Gatling-Pea turned from the Browncoats and Desmond shot the Browncoats before they could harm the young Gatling-Pea. After Desmond vanquished the Browncoats, the Peashooter was just returning, a deep gash ran down their stem. Desmond was able to get behind a wall without the Peashooter noticing him. Desmond peeked around the wall to find the Peashooter had planted a small Sunflower, far smaller than any he had ever seen. The small Sunflower had a look of concentration on their face and soon, they deposited a few drops of sun around them. They were quickly absorbed by the Peashooter and the gash quickly healed over. Once they finished healing, the Peashooter hypered off towards another part of the chamber. Desmond came out from behind the wall and slowly approached the small Sunflower, while small, they seemed to already be listening to the tune that rumbled deep within the Earth that only Sunflowers seemed to hear. The Sunflower looked over at Desmond, but they continued to dance. The Sunflowers smile quickly faded as they watched Desmond wince as he was struck from behind by a Screen-Door zombie. Desmond fell forward, but he was able to catch himself before he hit the ground. He rolled onto his back and shot at the Screen-Door, his flaming pea had no effect on the zombie or door what-so-ever. Desmond kept shooting at the zombie but he was still not able to do anything. Just as the zombie got bored of trying to hit a moving target, they started to shuffle towards the Sunflower, who only whimpered in fear. Desmond growled and he tackled the zombie from behind. The browncoat dropped their door and was quickly vanquished when Desmond thrust his short, thorn covered vine straight through the Browncoats chest. Desmond withdrew the vine and allowed it to recede. As Desmond stood up, a loud, mechanical laugh cracked through the chamber, it was quickly followed by an Impish laugh. Desmond looked over at the two potted plants, they both winced as the sound of a Peashooter being shot sounded out through the chamber. Just as Desmond looked away from the two potted plants, the small Sunflower spoke in her high pitched voice.

"Please help our uncle." The small Sunflower started tearing up and Desmond couldn't help but say to the Sunflower.

"Don't worry, I'll go help your uncle." Desmond turned from the potted plants again and hypered towards the laughs and yells of pain.


	39. Chapter 39: Arguing young

**A/N: Holy crap. 2,000+ views. Words, cannot describe the shock I was in after seeing that. I have to thank you, if you have read this...I never expected to break 100 views. Well, I guess I'll have to give a shout out to ThePeawithGoggles, she's the only reason a few characters have survived this far and she has been a great help, I couldn't have done this without your help, Pea. Also a shoutout to GamerGirlandCo, IzrenGW, TastyBlueCrayon, yuancorpuz, chumpatrol1, FlimsyCone, Dorylus, Kitty1353, Alex-olo-gy, MiracleBreaker and TimeMan63, without your stories, I probably would have gone insane by now and the older authors (Those who probably don't write anymore), your stories pretty much inspired me so yeah. Keep writing and let's get on with the chapter.**

Alison wandered through the halls of L.E.A.F HQ, Pete hovering beside her. The two drifted through the strangely quiet halls in silence. Once they emerged from the hall and into the giant lobby, they crossed over to the canteen, where they both thought their son was. The two entered the canteen and tried to spot out the Fire Pea that was their son. Unfortunately it seemed that the only Fire Pea's were a few plants that neither of them knew. Despite the lack of their son, Alison still approached the bench from which food was being served and grabbed herself some. She took a seat at one of the crowded tables and ate, Pete simply hovered around her, deep in thought. After a few minutes, Alison snapped Pete from his trance and the two set back off into the lobby. Despite the many times he had been to L.E.A.F, Pete hadn't really noticed the large door that stood at the edge of the lobby. Pete approached the door and realized that it lead to the hall beneath the HQ that was dedicated to the many fallen during the battle against Zomboss' largest Zombot, it was known as Memorial Hall. Pete sighed, when he had arrived at the battle, ten years ago, he was barely able to do anything before being knocked out by a rogue Plasma Ball from a Superbrainz he never saw. By the time he was conscious again, the battle was over. Alison looked at Pete, the look of sorrow on his pale face told her everything. She wandered through the door and into the hall, Pete followed her in.

"Don't beat yourself up over something that happened ten years ago." Alison said to the internally distraught Peashooter beside her. Pete only sighed.

"How many did we lose again? I could have saved so many of them-"

"No you couldn't have." Alison said, interrupting Pete. "You would have died before you could have saved any of them." Pete stopped and growled lightly.

"I would have preferred to have died rather than have this guilt hanging over me." Pete said angrily.

"Stop feeling guilty! You can't blame yourself for getting hit with that Plasma Ball." Alison retorted.

"And why not? I should have seen it coming."

"But you couldn't, Pete...If it's anyone's fault...it's mine...You were too busy making sure I got somewhere that was somewhat safe...And it nearly cost you your life." Alison was starting to tear up. Pete sighed once more and pulled her into a hug.

"Please, don't cry. It wasn't your fault, I swear." Alison began to cry harder.

"I kn-know...It's just...I can't b-believe...I never noticed it until now..." Alison managed to say through the tears.

"What's that?" Pete said as softly as he could.

"M-My s-sister's one of t-the field medics who fell during the battle...S-She wanted to be l-like an Asteraceae...I never knew her fate...until now." Pete tightened his hug slightly.

"She didn't fall in vain...that's for sure. Beside, she will always live on, in here." Pete pulled away from Alison and tapped her chest.

"Heh...I guess she didn't...Thank you Pete...I still remember the first time we met...all fourteen years ago when you told me that." Alison surprised Pete when she kissed his check lightly. Pete, somehow, blushed as his pale white face seemed to become slightly more vivid. Alison giggled and led the way out of the hall.

* * *

Desmond sprinted as fast as he could from the Gas Station to the patch of grass behind the row of shops, the metal power pylon stood imposingly over the area. Desmond cautiously walked down the alley and approached the power pylon, the sound of something being slammed against the pylon sounding out from the other side. Desmond launched himself around the side of the Pylon, only to be surprised, Calamity held an Imp by their throat, a smoking Z-Mech wreck behind him. Calamity slammed the Imp against the Pylon.

"HOW DO YOU LIKE IT?!" Calamity yelled at the bloody Imp. "NOT SO FUN, HUH?!" The Imp simply growled at their captor. After a few seconds, the Imp began to smirk and launched a Gravity Grenade from it's back. Calamity released the Imp as he was dragged up into the grenades area of effect. The Imp's smile deepened as they retrieved their blasters and hit their Impkarta ability. Desmond watched in horror as Calamity was shot rapidly by the swiftly spinning Imp. A few seconds in, Calamity was dropped to the ground and was shot into submission. While not down, Calamity struggled to get up. Desmond couldn't stand by and let Calamity take whatever the Imp had install for him. Desmond leaped out from behind the Pylon just as the Imp's Impkarta ability wore off and he tackled the Imp. Desmond began to go blue as he he summoned the thorn covered vine from his right pod and he ripped the Imp's small heart out, the Imp fell silent. Desmond helped Calamity up, the Peashooter seemed to be barely able to stand as Desmond took most of his weight. Desmond and Calamity limped back to the garden, where Desmond lay Calamity beside the small Sunflower, her face screwed up in extreme concentration as she tried to summon sun drops that would heal Calamity. After a few seconds of agony, the Sunflower was able to create some sun drops that were quickly absorbed by Calamity. The multiple burn wounds began to clear and his face began to relax. A few minutes passed by before Calamity sat up and looked Desmond over. It took the Peashooter a few seconds to realize who was with them.

"D-Desmond?! How did you get in here?" Calamity asked in shocked.

"I...snuck in." Desmond replied truthfully.

"Well...I'm glad you did."

"We are to." Squeaked the two smaller, potted plants. "If it weren't for him, the scary looking zombies would have gotten us."

"Nuh-Uh. I would have protected us." Boasted the small Gatling-Pea. The potted Sunflower only rolled her eyes.

"You were scared, I know it."

"I was not." Retorted the Gatling-Pea angrily.

"Was to. Replied the Sunflower in a teasing tone.

"Was not."

"Enough you two." Calamity finally stopped their arguing, both Potted Plants blushed slightly in embarrassment.

* * *

"Alison!" Yelled the Law Pea as he tried to get his cousins girl-plant's attention. "I've got something important to tell you!" Alison the Fire Flower stopped abruptly and turned to face him.

"Oh, Orlan. What is it?" Alison asked him.

"It's about Desmond-"

"What has he done?" Alison asked angrily.

"N-Nothing to endanger anyone. Just follow me." Orlan replied. Alison looked at Pete, the pale Peashooter nodded and followed her as she followed his cousin. Orlan led the two to the large training facility and to the second chamber, the words ' _Chomp Town_ ' above the steel door.


	40. Chapter 40: A new life?

Desmond and Calamity looked up when the ground began to shake and a roar rumbled through the chamber. As they looked around, a random Imp flew over them and slammed into the wall at the far end of the chamber. They both scrambled up to the roof of the Gas Station, they were presented with a Gargantuar slowly lumbering towards them and the garden. Desmond leapt off the roof and started towards the Gargantuar, Calamity followed him in. As they closed the distance with the Gargantuar, it raised its power pole above it's head and sprinted at them. Both Desmond and Calamity leapt to the sides, the Power Pole barely missed them. While the power pole missed them, it did crack the street and send sharpened fragments of asphalt at the two plants. Both of them received minor lacerations from the sharpened asphalt. Desmond was first to get up and, using his hyper ability, he leaped up on the Gargantuar and began slicing away at their head with his thorn covered vine. Calamity got up and tried to keep the Gargantuar's attention on him by shooting them and running around them. After a few minutes, the Gargantuar began to slip on it's own blood as it began to pool around its feet. Desmond leapt from the Gargantuar as it feel onto its back. Desmond landed beside the pooling blood and gagged in repulsion. He was quickly shocked as a giant fist wrapped itself around him. Desmond yelped as he was slowly crushed and as he watched the Gargantuar push itself up and raise it's free fist to provide a finishing blow. Just before the fist made contact with the Fire Pea, an invisible force stopped it dead in it's tracks. The same unseen force pried apart the fist around Desmond, this allowed the Fire Pea to get away. As Desmond and Calamity began to walk slowly away from the Gargantuar, it was lifted into the air and slowly ripped apart. The two plants watched in shock as the massive zombie was split perfectly in half by, seemingly, nothingness.

* * *

Pete drifted into view with Alison and Orlan as the two halves of the deceased Gargantuar slammed heavily onto the road. Alison's face portrayed pure anger, Orlan's was of respect and Pete's seemed to be one of mixed emotions. Desmond slowly drifted back towards the Gargantuar and away from his flaming blue mother.

"WHAT IN DAVE'S NAME WERE YOU THINKING?! WHAT MADE YOU THINK THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA?!" Alison screamed at her son. The normally light orange flames that flickered off of Desmond's head lost all their colour and turned pitch white, he was terrified of his mother.

"I...I...I...don't know." Desmond replied quietly. Alison was unimpressed by his answer, but she was unable to yell at him again as Pete seemed to have made up his mind.

"You did well." Pete complemented his son. "You didn't back down, despite the odds. For that, you gain my respect."

"And mine as well." Chimed Orlan. Alison seemed to deflate while Desmond was in shock and the colour began to return to the flames on his head.

"B-But...he could have died! This is your son we're talking about." Alison blurted out in an attempt to swing Pete's opinion, it didn't work.

"This isn't a real battlefield. L.E.A.F wouldn't have let him die." Retorted Pete. Alison yelled out in frustration and stormed out of the test Chamber. "Don't worry, your mother will calm down. She can't help it, it seems." Pete spoke directly to his son.

"Are you sure?" Desmond asked.

"I'm sure...Otherwise she would have left me a good number of years ago." Pete looked down at the ground, the ring that had been a gift from his late mother sat on the ground. Desmond grabbed it and put it on his arm.

* * *

Calamity sighed as he watched Pete and Desmond have a father-son moment, something he wished he could have had. The Law Pea that had been with Desmond's father walked over to him and placed a pod on his shoulder.

"You know, you did a great job as well. You stuck with your friend when you could have left him with the Gargantuar. Perhaps your family name really only is a name." The Law Pea spoke to him. Calamity gave them a questioning look.

"What do you mean? I don't have a family name...I don't have a family." Calamity said sadly, the undead Peashooter started to feel nothing but hate.

"Your heritage and history may say you're a Sativum...But inside, I think you're a Lathyrus. A true warrior and I mean...if you're looking for a family-"

"W-W-W-W-Wait. Are you saying, that my parents were Sativum's?...And are you asking me if I need a family?" Asked Calamity. Orlan smiled.

"Yes. But you've had a change of heart, I can tell. While you aren't perfect, I mean, none of us are, I would be happy to take you in and help change your fate to a positive one." Calamity stepped back in shock.

"HEY! UNCLE ORLAN! YOU COMING?!" Desmond yelled out to the Law Pea.

"Of course, just give me a sec." He replied to his nephew before changing his attention back to Calamity. "So, you up for it?" Calamity nodded and he followed the Law Pea happily. _'Perhaps I really can change. Perhaps I can truly help and not destroy others.'_

* * *

Sonatra wandered into L.E.A.F HQ with Ali. Once she was in, she told Ali to search out anyone she may know while Sonatra herself went off to do something she had been wanting to do for a very long time. Over the past few years, Sonatra and her parents, her uncles, aunties, cousins. They had all fallen out of contact with each other and soon, none of them knew how to contact the other, and it was worrying Sonatra. So she wandered through L.E.A.F until she found a large steel door, the words 'Central Database' written on a sign beside the door. Sonatra was able to slip into the central database and sneak up behind the Agent Pea that seemed to be monitoring the security cameras that surrounded the base. Sonatra whispered to herself 'Dave, please forgive me for this', and she slammed the Agent Pea from behind with a fire hydrant she grabbed from beside the door. The Agent hit the desk and slid to the floor. Sonatra cringed slightly as she moved the Agent Pea and started by accessing the server that contained the names of every plant, living or dead, that had been in contact with L.E.A.F at least once. After a few minutes without finding any name she was looking for, Sonatra began to get desperate. The Agent Pea seemed to be coming to and someone knocked at the door.

"I don't know who you are. But step away from the computer, and no one gets hurt." Sonatra stopped still and thought to herself, _'That voice, I know that.'_

"P-Peter?" Sonatra asked cautiously.

"HOW DO YOU KNOW MY NAME?!" Replied the plant. Sonatra stood slowly and turned to face them, indeed it was Peter, the Commando Pea she had once been engaged to.

"Because, we were to be partnered...but the war took me away from you."

"I'm not buying it."

"Peter Elatius. It's me...Sonatra. We first met when we were assigned to the same lawn and we were roommates for the two years we fought together for our owner, Eric. After that, we became advanced and we decided to abandon our posts and we headed into the city. For four years we fought for survival in that tower..."

"N-NO! How do you know all that...unless...You...I...think I remember...Sonatra...what happened to you...I woke up one day and...I thought I had forgotten something..."

"Oh Peter. It's alright. I'll explain everything when I introduce you to your daughter."


	41. Chapter 41: The next generation

Corinth hopped off the bus, dragging his Advanced Primal Pea father along with him, as he walked slowly towards the L.E.A.F HQ. After a few moments, he was approached by a Bandit Cactus, who was one of the guards.

"What have we 'ere?" She asked in her rather Western accent.

"A war criminal." Corinth replied as he dropped his father to the ground. He pulled a document out of the pack he had and gave it to the Bandit Cactus. The Bandit Cactus frowned before picking up the unconscious Primal Pea and asked Corinth to follow them. Corinth followed the Bandit Cactus into the HQ and through to the prison located towards the back of the base. Corinth watched with satisfaction as his father was thrown into a cell and left there, bleeding lightly from a cut he had gained from landing against the floor. The Bandit Cactus turned to Corinth.

"Well then. Who do I have to thank for making my life easier?" The Bandit Cactus asked.

"Corinth. Now, I'll just be on my way then." Corinth started to leave, but the Cactus grabbed Corinth, this caused the Peashooter to wince as a few spikes entered his shoulder and stem.

"You aren't going anywhere, Sativum." The Bandit Cactus spoke slow and methodically, as if she had been planning this moment for a long time. "You have a pretty hefty price on your head, Sativum. You're worth enough for me to retire and settle down with everything I want." Corinth punched the Bandit Cactus, this caused her to release him and he made a break for the door. Corinth emerged into a long corridor, doors leading to mainly sleeping quarters lined the hall and at the end, the lobby. Corinth managed to hyper down the hall and enter the lobby without any problems and he was able to slip into the infirmary without being stopped. Corinth let an Alien Flower cover the deep wounds where the Bandit Cactus had impaled him before he thanked them and left the HQ. Corinth walked to the nearest bus station and waited for the bus to arrive so he could capture the next plant on his list, his mother.

* * *

Ali sighed as she sat on the wooden bench that was set up in the lobby of the large, metallic L.E.A.F HQ. She looked around for a few minutes, until she noticed her mother walking into the lobby, she seemed to be flirting with a Commando Pea who seemed to be enjoying it, in fact, it looked like the two were old friends. Ali walked over to her flirtatious mother.

"Mum. Who is this?" Ali asked with a disapproving tone.

"Why this is your father." Replied her mother, Sonatra, with a flourish.

"M-My d-dad?!" Ali asked in astonishment.

"Indeed. You have your mothers eyes." Spoke the Commando Pea. Sonatra giggled lightly before pulling the boy plant into a tight hug. Ali gagged slightly before she giggled lightly at her mother.

"Thanks...dad...I'm going to have to get used to that." Sonatra giggled again before she smiled at her daughter. Sonatra looked into the Commando Pea's eyes and smiled, the two seemed to be getting closer and closer and soon, they were both kissing. Ali gagged once again and looked away from her mother. After a few, flurried seconds, the two plants broke their embrace and made their way towards the canteen. Ali followed her parents to the canteen and grabbed herself some food, alongside her parents.

* * *

Desmond groaned as he, his father, Orlan and Calamity walked out of the training center and into the lobby, the smell of food made Desmond hungry. Pete saw the expression on his son's face and changed which direction he was traveling in and now hovered towards the canteen at about the same pace as his son. Orlan and Calamity also changed paths and they also headed towards the canteen. Once Pete, Desmond, Orlan and Calamity were in the Canteen, they all took a seat at one of the tables, well Pete hovered above the bench that everyone else was sitting on. Desmond quickly got up and helped himself to some of the food at being served at the bench while Calamity fought the urge to bite any of the plants around him. Pete and Orlan patiently waited for Desmond to finish eating and they were soon heading out of the canteen and out to the lobby. Pete looked across the floor and found Alison walking out of the Training Center, a look of calm on her face. Pete drifted over to Alison just as she was about to enter the hall that lead to the infirmary.

"Hey, Alison. I'm sorry for what happened, before hand." Pete spoke softly and quietly. Alison did hear him though because she stopped and slapped the paranormal Peashooter.

"That, was for angering me." Alison stopped speaking and hugged Pete tightly. "And this, is for forgiving me." Pete returned the gesture and whispered quietly.

"I will always forgive you. Even if it seems like I don't...I can never stay mad at you...you're too important to me." Alison smiled at Pete's gesture of his loyalty to her. Desmond wandered over to his parents and joined in by hugging both his parents.

"I'm so sorry mum...I know I shouldn't have gone into that chamber." Desmond spoke in a tone of self-loathing disappointment in himself.

* * *

Pete, Desmond and Alison broke their embrace as they were approached by a Fire Cactus. "Uh well, the leaders wish to speak to the three of you." The Fire Cactus turned and looked at Calamity. "They also would like to talk to you two as well." The Fire Cactus set off for the meeting rooms so Pete, Alison, Desmond, Calamity and Orlan followed the Fire Cactus and they were soon packed into a meeting room, An Ice Pea, Agent Pea, a Camo Cactus and a Fire Cactus were already seated in the room.

"So. You three seem like rather promising recruits. Do you agree?" Spoke a Camo Cactus that sat opposite Alison. The Ice Pea nodded and so did the Agent Pea.

"Well with your permission, and your parents, we wish to put you through trials, to see if you have what it take to be apart of L.E.A.F." This time Icee, the Ice Pea spoke to them.

"Well of course, Desmond and Annika's heritage means that they will be undertaking different trials to each other and Calamity." The Agent Pea's statement made Desmond frown as he would be going in solo if he accepted.

"I'm in." Spoke the Fire Cactus, who Desmond assumed was Annika.

"So am I...if Orlan will let me." This time Calamity spoke, Orlan simply nodded in agreement and Calamity was allowed to partake in the trials.

"I would like to participate as well...if my parents will let me." Desmond spoke apprehensively, he expected his mother to be vigorously opposed. Instead, the follow up reply shocked him.

"I would happily let him in." Alison's reply shocked Desmond while Pete smiled at Alison.

"Experience is the best teacher, so I'll happily let partake." Pete's answer didn't shock Desmond at all.

"Very well, your trials shall begin tomorrow. I recommend you all get some rest, it will be a long day. Especially for you two." Icee pointed at Desmond and Annika before the meeting was adjourned and they were allowed to leave.


	42. Epilogue: Getting in

Desmond awoke the next morning, it felt like a lump lay in his throat as he dreaded the upcoming trials that would decide whether he had what it took to get into L.E.A.F or not. The young Fire Pea walked out of the sleeping chamber, he had been lended it by L.E.A.F for the night, and walked into the strangely quite lobby. It was very early in the morning and at this time only himself, Calamity, Annika, his parents and a few guards were awake this early. Desmond looked at his parents, his mother, Alison, lay on Pete's shoulder as they both sat beside the fountain. Desmond joined Calamity and Annika in the Canteen and he grabbed himself a bowl of plant food as well as a glass of water. He sat beside Calamity and across from Annika, the Fire Flower seemed to be shaking slightly, as if she had seen something horrifying. Desmond shook it off and ate his food. After a few minutes, the group of three were approached by the Agent Pea, who had been at the meeting the day before.

"Alright you three, I hope you're all ready to go so would you all follow me." Annika, Calamity and Desmond got up from the table and followed the Agent Pea to the training center.

"Alright, Fire Cactus, you're in the first Chamber." The Agent Pea pointed Annika to the first chamber before speaking to Calamity. "Alright. Calamity, you're in the second chamber and Desmond." The Agent Pea approached the young Fire Pea, you're in the third chamber." Desmond thanked the Agent Pea and set out to his chamber. The first few trials were easy for Desmond, a few parkour courses that Desmond managed to race through while he also fought a few browncoats in a close quarter environment. Next Desmond was to dispatch of a small contingent of elites on a map that depicted an area of Suburbia dubbed _'Sharbite Shore.'_ Desmond positioned himself in the town and let the elites come to him. At the start, he quickly dispatched of the two Scuba Soldiers that had gone ahead recon. Soon he was battling a Marine Biologist who had warped right up and into Desmond's face. Desmond was blown onto his back by the force of the regurgitated fish guts. Desmond lit the Marine Biologist on fire with his peas and managed to vanquish them, after being hit again by the Dolphin Blaster. Desmond grabbed the Dolphin and hypered to the sand banks of the beach at the end of the pier and threw the dolphin into the ocean, where it swam away into the deeper water.

Desmond returned to the town, where he was tackled into a wall by a Moto-Cross All-Star. Desmond was left stunned and dazed as the Moto-Cross Star dropped him to the ground and laughed at the stunned Fire Pea. Desmond came to his senses and opened his right pod, the vine snaked its way out and Desmond laid waste to the brute of a zombies face. The Moto-Cross Star dropped their weapon and gripped their face as they yelled out in pain. Desmond quickly put the All-Star variant out of their pain with a few, flaming peas. After a few minutes of near silence, the only noise being that of leaves rustling across the paved ground of the town center, a volley of ZPG'S exploded near where Desmond had decided to hide. The Fire Pea launched out from his cover and was presented with an awe-inspiring sight. Over thirteen foot soldiers of varying variants occupied the rooftops, their weapons aimed squarely on Desmond. A sharp crack broke the air as a Camo Ranger pulled the trigger and hit Desmond square in the chest. A split second later, the other Foot Soldier's pulled their triggers and the sky was filled with pellets of every colour. Desmond yelled out and after a few seconds, a Foot Soldier threw a stink cloud down onto the young Fire Pea to finish them off. The Foot Soldiers stopped firing, confident they had taken out the Fire Pea.

Desmond groaned as the chemicals in the purple smoke cloud began to eat away at him. He also began to see visions in the smoke cloud, his terrified mother, his shocked father, his worried friends. They seemed to embolden Desmond and a sudden surge of energy enhanced the Fire Pea as he hypered from the Smoke Cloud and jumped onto the rooftops, where, he swiftly vanquished a group of Foot Soldiers with a Chili Bean Bomb. He managed to root himself into the root and activate his Gatling ability. Desmond ripped into nine of the Foot Soldiers and felled them before unrooting. Desmond looked around, the only zombie left standing was a smug looking Foot Soldier. Desmond hypered across the central plaza of the town and leapt onto the Foot Soldier. Despite their best efforts, the Foot Soldier couldn't push Desmond off of himself and felt something fumbling around in his chest. After a few seconds, his decaying heart appeared in his eye-sight and he watched in horror as it was crushed by a short, thorn covered vine that appeared to belong to the Fire Pea. Desmond grinned at what he had done and to celebrate his miraculous victory, he took the Foot Soldiers helmet and placed it on his own head, it fit perfectly. Desmond watched as the corpses disintegrated and a sharp static sound broke through the chamber.

"Congratulations Desmond, welcome to L.E.A.F."

 _A/N: And *Sad Face* that was the last chapter and the, official, ending for this story. I know someone has requested to do an alternate ending and I have happily let them so if you want to write an alternate ending just hit me up and I'll help you do it...Well this was awesome and fun to write and I really hope you enjoyed it. If you want me to add anything, let me know, got an idea for a future story, let me know. Well for now, I bid thee adieu and I'll see you in 'By the Blood of the Innocent'._


	43. Valentines Day Short

**A/N: Something that I was originally going to have as the Epilogue of this story but I realized how it wouldn't really fit so I tweaked it majorly and...viola, her you go...A really cheesy, Valentines based thing. (Also happy belated Lunar New Year.) EDIT: 3,721 views, as of the 19th of April 2016...like...WHAT?! How the heck did this story get this many views?! It's pretty lackluster in comparison to many of the other stories in this category, but I thank you all none-the-less.**

It was that time of year, almost every battlefield across Suburbia, or Zomburbia depending on where you were, fell silent as Plants, Humans and Zombies stopped shooting at each other, to spend the day with the ones they loved the most. Humans would go to the fancy restaurants that had sprung up after the war and exchange expensive foods and chocolates. Zombies would exchange their most precious and most desired commodity, brains. While the plants, they exchanged whatever trinkets and what-nots they had on them. It was this day, February 14th, commonly referred to as Valentines Day, that skirmishes and battles would stop so all sides could enjoy the day.

* * *

And it was on this day, two young plants sat beside the lake, the young Sunflower enjoying the company of her Peashooter companion, one of his arms over her as she lay her weary head on his shoulder. It had been a long day for both of them. Calamity had passed his L.E.A.F evaluation and earned his stripes as a recruit, alongside Desmond Lathyrus, a Fire Pea friend, and a Fire Cactus named Annika Conel. Ali on the other hand had practiced advanced medical techniques with her Sunflower mother, Sonatra. The two plants simply enjoyed each others company, though they both knew they weren't to be, no one would take kindly to Ali partnering with an undead plant like Calamity. So they enjoyed each others company, watching as the sun set at the far end of the lake.

* * *

Not too far away, in a decaying barn, Alexi, an Arctic Trooper at a Base that was home to both zombies and humans, met with his still living wife. Their daughter, Rosy, sitting on one of the decaying rafters with an awkward Zoologist she fancied. Alexi had managed to convince the Warden to lend him the barn and access to the rarer goods in the Base, the exotic foods, to treat his wife to a candle lit dinner beneath the stars. Rosy had asked if she could join her parents with the Zoologist she had asked to be her Valentine. Rosy thought back to when she had asked the night before, and giggled, the Zoologist had panicked when she asked and spluttered out a mix of _'yes'_ and _no's'_ , until Rosy kissed him and said that she would see him the following day. The Zoologist looked around awkwardly, whenever he and Rosy locked gazes, he began to blush and think. _'Why me? Of all the inhabitants...why me? Is it my porcupine?'_ Rosy would giggle and the two would break gazes.

* * *

Desmond wandered the streets of Suburbia, head hanging low whenever he passed a couple as he didn't have any plant to spend the rest day with. The Helmet he had scavenged off of a Foot Soldier kept his face mostly hidden to most of the plants, humans and zombies he passed, it was a strange sight seeing the three races perusing the streets together. What made Desmond even more confused was the fact that a Chomper walked side by side with, not only a Sunflower, but also an Engineer, a Chompers natural enemy, as his father liked to call them, and a flamboyant human woman. Desmond sat down at a bench he was passing and watched the odd group enter a small restaurant, one he hadn't seen before. Curiosity coursed through the young Fire Pea and he soon found himself approaching the door the group had gone through. Before he himself was able to follow them through, an All-Star steeped in front of Desmond.

"Sorry kid. Partners only tonight. Come back again another time." The All-Star spoke in their gruff voice. Desmond let out an infuriated huff and started wandering away from the All-Star and the small restraunt.

* * *

Alison pushed Pete to the ground playfully before leaping on the Paranormal Peashooter. Pete pulled her into a hug as she landed on him and the two plants rolled down the hill together, they reached the bottom in a pile of twisted leaves, petals and stems, both of them were grinning stupidly. When they, finally, managed to untangle themselves from each other, an impulse, almost like a spark seemed to flicker across Alison's flaming orange eyes and Pete's pale white eyes. Soon the two were hugging, both of them still sitting on the ground opposite each other.

"I don't want this moment to end, Pete." Alison let out softly.

"Nor do I honestly. If I were to be frozen in any moment of time, it would be this moment, right now." Pete replied softly, in an almost, ethereal voice. Pete kissed Alison softly on her cheek, Alison's flames changed from their customary light orange to a dark shade of red, she was blushing. Pete grinned stupidly at her so Alison playfully slapped Pete across the cheek. The Paranormal Peashooter returned the gesture by lightly stroking her face. Alison's flames colour deepened to a very dark red. She kissed Pete on his cheek lightly before getting up and gesturing the Paranormal Peashooter to follow her.

* * *

Vivian looked into Wulf's eyes with a grin, they seemed to swirl as if her partner was an entire universe contained within one plant, little did she know, it wasn't the plant she knew at all. The Plasma Pea looked back at the Alien Flower coldly, he wouldn't fall for those eyes, not again, her time was coming, he needed to stay vigilant. Vivian gave him a confused look before shrugging it off and skipping off toward the fountain at the center of the square. The Plasma Pea walked over to the fountain and pulled out a coin he had acquired back when he was in medieval times. He flicked the coin into the fountain with a flourish.

"What did you wish for?" Asked Vivian with a curious tone.

"If I told you, it wouldn't come true." Replied the Plasma Pea in a monotonous voice. _'I'm a fool and an idiot and I'm no replacement for my father...if he was my real father.'_ Vivian began to worry for the Plasma Pea as they stared blankly into the water of the fountain. Vivian placed her equivalent of a right hand on the Plasma Pea's shoulder.

"Hey. You alright?" Vivian asked with a concerned voice.

"I...I'm fine...I'll be fine." Replied the Plasma Pea, he could feel her presence in the near area, he couldn't tell why she was near, perhaps it was all the love in the air that was beginning to make the Plasma Pea feel sick.

"Are you sure? I can-"

"NO! Just...go...I'll catch up." The Plasma Pea's interruption of the Alien Flower caused her to stammer slightly before she nodded and wandered off. The Plasma Pea began to regain his composure and he followed after the Alien Flower slowly. A flash flickered across his stone cold eyes as he witnessed the Alien Flower being flattened by a truck being driven by a drunken fool, their bloody remains all over the road. The Plasma Pea shook his head and saw that the Alien Flower was only just beginning to cross the street that would be her doom. He would have been happy to let the Alien Flower be flattened but something inside him took over and he was grabbing the Alien Flower and pulling them off the road, the Truck careened pass them, barely. The Plasma Pea smiled internally, until he looked down, the Alien Flower looked deathly ill. He watched in horror as the Alien Flower-No Vivian, a plant he never even knew, as her eyes began to tear up.

"I-I...feel...great..." Vivian whispered as she uttered her final words. The Plasma Pea released the corpse and summoned his Scythe, Adjudicator, and reaped the plant, their soul fading to a dim gray and he left the soul to it's own devices, he would keep it safe once it completed its journey to its new home. Before he could vanish to reap the other souls he needed to, someone spoke out from behind him.

"...Alduin?"


End file.
